The case against the only remaining suspect charged with the Omagh bombing, in which 29 people were killed, has collapsed, prompting families of the victims to claim that their loved ones will never get justice.

Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) confirmed that all charges against Seamus Daly, who was accused of carrying out the single biggest atrocity of the Troubles, had been dropped.

The collapse of the case owing to the unreliability of a state witness opens the door for Daly to challenge a groundbreaking civil legal action which concluded in 2013 that the evidence against him was overwhelming.

Daly, 45, had appeared in court in Omagh only last week, facing all the charges related to the Real IRA attack.

One of the 29 victims was a pregnant woman whose twins were almost full term when she died after the 500lb bomb exploded in the town centre on a busy Saturday in August 1998.

As well as facing 29 murder charges, Daly had been accused of causing the explosion in the Co Tyrone market town 18 years ago and possessing the bomb. He also faced charges relating to a Real IRA bomb plot in Lisburn in April 1998.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Seamus Daly arrives at Omagh court in County Tyrone. Photograph: Peter Morrison/PA

On the withdrawal of charges, a spokesperson for the PPS said: “The decision not to seek the return of Seamus Daly for trial to the crown court has been taken following a careful review of the current state of the evidence. This has focused in particular on the testimony provided by a key witness during committal proceedings last week.

“Under cross-examination a number of issues became apparent which impacted upon the reliability of the evidence that the witness was providing. Having conducted a careful review of the case with the prosecution team, the director of public prosecutions, Barra McGrory QC, has concluded that the available evidence no longer provides a reasonable prospect of a conviction. Consequently the prosecution cannot be continued.”

The PPS spokesperson added: “On behalf of the PPS, I extend our sympathy to the families affected by the Omagh bomb. We understand how difficult this decision will be for them. We hope they are assured that this decision was not taken lightly but is required in accordance with our duty as prosecutors to keep a decision under review and to discontinue criminal proceedings when the test for prosecution is no longer met.”

Daly, originally from the Irish Republic, was arrested in South Armagh in 2014 in connection with the Real IRA bomb attacks. Daly has consistently denied any involvement in the atrocity.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michael Gallagher: ‘The chances of a successful criminal prosecution against the Omagh bombers is very, very low after this.’ Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the Omagh bombing, said it was a dark day for the families of the victims. He said there was now the prospect of Daly mounting a legal challenge against the families’ landmark civil action against him and three other men named in court as the Real IRA leaders behind the Omagh bomb plot, and of Daly suing the state for his time spent in custody.

Gallagher said he had realised from Daly’s appearance in court last Thursday that the crown’s chief witness, who can now be named as Denis O’Connor, from the Irish Republic, had provided contradictory and unreliable evidence.



“Barring a road-to-Damascus conversion and a confession by the bombers themselves, those behind the Omagh bomb plot have got away with it,” he said. “The chances of a successful criminal prosecution against the Omagh bombers is very, very low after this. The only way to get at least the truth about what happened in Omagh is for a full all-Ireland independent inquiry into the events leading up to the bomb, which is what we have been demanding for years.

“We won’t stop fighting for this inquiry but it has to be said that in terms of the innocent victims of the Troubles, the way the Omagh investigation has gone indicates that they won’t get justice either. It is very depressing.”

The families of the Omagh victims have complained that police on both sides of the Irish border failed to act to thwart the attack because they were running agents inside the Real IRA, and that some previous bombings in 1998 were allowed to take place to bolster their agents’ reputations within the new republican terror group. In the lead-up to the Good Friday agreement in the same year, the Real IRA launched a series of attacks using car bombs and mortar bombs mainly targeted at unionist-dominated towns across Northern Ireland.

The victims of the Omagh bombing came from across the sectarian divide in the region but also included an English schoolboy, James Barker, and several Spanish pupils who were in town on a day trip. To date no one has been found guilty in a criminal court over the bombing.