In court: Omagh bomb suspect Seamus Daly (left, leaving court near Belfast), 45, after 29 murder charges against him were dropped

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims were devastated last night after the criminal case against the only remaining suspect collapsed.

Charges against a bricklayer accused of murdering 29 people in the 1998 Real IRA atrocity were dropped due to insufficient evidence.

Seven years ago, following a landmark civil case brought by families of the victims, a Belfast judge ruled that Seamus Daly was one of four dissident Republicans behind the worst single attack in 30 years of Northern Ireland's troubles.

In 2013, evidence linking the 45-year-old to the Omagh bombing was described by a top judicial figure as overwhelming.

But no one has ever been convicted of the Omagh murders in a criminal court and yesterday's decision to halt Daly's prosecution means the victims' families are unlikely ever to gain justice for their loved ones.

The case against the 'Real IRA foot soldier' fell apart after doubts emerged about the reliability of a key witness, who is said to have repeatedly changed his version of events. Daly's lawyers also argued that much of the evidence was weak and had been previously discredited.

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden was among those killed, said: 'It's a very dark day for justice that here once again we have come to court and we have seen a man walk free. I think this was probably the last chance for justice for Omagh.

'We knew from the hearing last Thursday that the evidence of the main witness was absolutely appalling and it was clear it wasn't going to go forward.

'There are very fundamental questions that must be asked of the two governments as things are so wrong in this case. Today the families are left bereft all over again.'

A woman tried to stop a photographer from taking a picture of Daly (left), a bricklayer accused of murdering 29 people in the 1998 Real IRA atrocity, as he left court near Belfast

Stanley McCombe, whose wife, Ann, 48, died in the bombing, told the Daily Mail: 'I knew there was going to be a problem from the minute I saw the witness giving evidence. It makes me so mad. I am gutted.'

Yesterday's decision to drop charges came seven years after an unprecedented civil action brought by the victims' families, which saw Daly held responsible for the carnage in August 1998, when a 500lb car bomb exploded in the market town of Omagh, killing 29 people – and unborn twins – and maiming and injuring hundreds more.

In 2007, South Armagh electrician Sean Hoey, who was then 38 and from Jonesborough, Co Armagh, was found not guilty of the 29 murders after a marathon trial at Belfast Crown Court.

Bereft: Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Aidan, right, in the Omagh bombings, pictured outside court as the charges against Daly were dropped

No one has ever been convicted in the criminal courts of the Omagh bomb attack (aftermath pictured above) which claimed the lives of 29 victims, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured hundreds more

At the time, trial judge Mr Justice Weir heavily criticised the Royal Ulster Constabulary and its successor, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, for their handling of the investigation.

NUMBER ONE SUSPECT WALKS FREE DESPITE 2008 JUDGE SAYING EVIDENCE WAS 'OVERWHELMING' Seamus Daly walked free today - and could sue for compensation - eight years after a civil court ruled he was involved in the Omagh bombing. In an unprecedented civil action started in 2008, a Belfast judge ruled that Real IRA godfather Michael McKevitt, his second-in-command Liam Campbell and two other republican dissidents, Colm Murphy and Daly, pictured above at the time, were behind the worst single atrocity in 30 years of Northern Ireland's troubles. The case against a fifth man, Seamus McKenna, was dismissed. The families, some in tears, sat in court as High Court judge Mr Justice Morgan awarded sums ranging from £70,000 to £340,000 to the brave dozen who took on the terrorists. The men have always denied plotting the bombing and have never paid a penny of the £1.5million in damages awarded. Opening the historic case in April 2008, the families' QC Lord Brennan described the bombing as 'a massacre of the innocents'. During the year-long hearing, with the court sitting in both Belfast and Dublin, he produced forensic evidence, mobile phone records and evidence from FBI double-agent David Rupert. Giving his judgment, Mr Justice Morgan said of the families: 'The senseless and indiscriminate nature of this appalling outrage has deeply affected each of them. Their lives will never be the same again.' He said the case against three of the four men was ' overwhelming'. He then listed the financial awards to each family members. Advertisement

The judge accused the constabulary of a 'thoughtless and slapdash approach' and a 'cavalier disregard' for key evidence.

A new investigation was launched which led to Daly being charged nearly two years ago.

Daly was last night freed from prison, where he had been held on remand since being charged with mass murder and other terror offences in April 2014.

He has always denied involvement in the atrocity, and when the evidence against him was tested last month and the prosecution's star witness, Denis O'Connor, contradicted himself under cross-examination, it became clear the trial was in jeopardy.

Daly's lawyer, Peter Corrigan, said the case against his client was paper-thin and based upon a witness who was himself arrested as part of the bombing probe. He claimed Mr O'Connor gave an account to Irish police in 1999 and had subsequently given three or four other versions.

Mr Corrigan also said his client had an alibi for the time when he was supposed to have been involved in the murders.

He insisted the evidence was stale and could have been presented to his client at any time in recent years.

Daly's militant republicanism stretches back to at least 2004 when he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in the Republic after admitting membership of the outlawed Real IRA.

But convicting him of the bombing which shocked the world just four months after the landmark Good Friday peace agreement was to prove a hurdle too high.

Two Belfast civil cases – one in 2009 and a retrial in 2013 – only had to prove on the balance of probabilities that the respondents were behind the bombing.

In 2009, Daly and three others were ordered to pay £1.6 million in damages to the bereaved relatives – money they are still pursuing.

The judge who presided over the first case said he was satisfied that Daly was in possession of one of the two phones which, records indicated, were used by the occupants of the bomb car and the getaway car on the day of the attack.

Deborah Anne Cartwright, 20, (left) and student Alan Radford, 16 (right), were also among those killed

Mena Skelton (pictured with husband Kevin on their wedding day), died in the Omagh bombing in August '98

Maura Monaghan, aged 18 months, (left) was the youngest victim of the blast. Jamie Barker, 12 (right), was also killed in the explosion, which was the single bloodiest terrorist attack in the history of the Troubles

In the 2013 retrial, Mr Justice Gillen concluded that the evidence against Daly and three others was overwhelming after the proceedings were shown data from mobile phone masts that tracked calls made from two phones as they moved from the Irish Republic to Omagh and back across the border ahead of the attack on August 15, 1998.

But criminal prosecutors had to establish Daly's guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.

Daly, from Jonesborough, also faced charges of causing the Omagh explosion and possession of a bomb with intent to endanger life.

He was further charged with conspiring to cause an explosion and having explosives with intent in connection with a bomb plot in Lisburn in April of the same year. All charges have been dropped.

The THREE other IRA men judges ruled responsible for the Omagh bombing who still owe victims' families £1.6m

Michael McKevitt, pictured, the man believed to have founded the Real IRA, was named as one of four men believed to be involved in the Omagh Bombing but never charged

Michael McKevitt, the man believed to have founded the Real IRA, was named as one of four men believed to be involved in the Omagh bombing.

The Real IRA boss, his second-in-command Liam Campbell and two other republican dissidents, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly owe victims families £1.6million in compensation for the bombing but refuse to pay.

They all deny any involvement in the 1998 bombing that murdered 29 people.

McKevitt was released early from jail for Christmas last year, sparking fury from families of Omagh bombing victims.

McKevitt, 66, was jailed in 2003 for 20 years for directing terrorism and for membership of the Real IRA.

He once controlled all arms dumps and the movement of weapons, ammunition and explosives across the border to Ulster.

When he turned his back on the Provisionals he took some of the arms with him and survived.

He married Bernadette Sands, the sister of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.

McKevitt was due for release from prison in mid-March this year but was freed under the temporary release scheme in 2015.

He was one of four men later found liable for the 1998 bombing in a civil action taken by 12 relatives of the 29 killed in the blast. He was never charged.

McKevitt's second-in-command Liam Campbell was also sued by the Omagh families.

Irish police believe he was the Real IRA's director of operations along the border and he was eventually jailed.

Police intelligence reports say he organised the 500lb Omagh bomb and became rich from border smuggling, owning a ranch-style house set in five acres of land outside Dundalk.

There, police found an underground bunker complete with walkie-talkies, a radio scanner, disposable body suits, 40 pairs of white cotton gloves, black insulating tape and small bore tubing similar to that used in home-made bombs.

The father of two claimed he had planned to fit a central heating boiler in the bunker.

Third named alleged Omagh conspirator is believed to be Colm Murphy.

Sued: A landmark civil case also found against Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy - but neither have ever been charged

Murphy, a publican and builder, had been involved with the Irish National Liberation Army - the group which killed Tory MP Airey Neave - and was active with the Provisional IRA until they declared their ceasefire in 1996.

At the time of the Omagh atrocity he was on the ruling Army Council of the Continuity IRA, which worked hand-in-glove with the Real IRA.

One security source said: 'He never had the guts to be a real handson terrorist but he was always in the background providing guns and explosives for them.

'As a builder who worked all over Ireland, he was able to transport men and explosives for them and was also in a position to employ known terrorists and to launder terrorist money.

'No terror group can exist without men like Murphy giving them sustenance.'

Shortly before the Omagh families launched their legal action he reportedly transferred £188,000 of his assets into relatives' bank accounts in a bid to keep his assets out of reach.

HOW THE TERROR UNFOLDED ON A BUSY SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN 1998 On August 15, 1998 Northern Ireland's fragile peace was shattered when a dissident republican car bomb ripped through the Co Tyrone market town of Omagh. The attack, which came four months after the signing of the historic Good Friday Agreement, was the single deadliest atrocity in the history of the Troubles. This is a timeline of the main events leading up to and beyond the Real IRA bomb explosion, which claimed the lives of 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins. The 29 victims died when the dissident republican car bomb detonated in Omagh on a busy afternoon Thursday August 13 1998: A red Vauxhall Cavalier - registration 91 DL 2554 - is stolen in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, in the Irish Republic. Saturday August 15:

2pm - The same car, now carrying the fake Northern Ireland registration MDZ 5211, is driven into Market Street, Omagh, and parked outside SD Kells clothes shop. Two male occupants are seen walking away in the direction of Campsie Road. 2.30pm - A man phones Ulster Television (UTV) newsroom with a bomb warning: 'There's a bomb, courthouse, Omagh, main street, 500lb, explosion 30 minutes.' The caller gives the Real IRA codeword 'Martha Pope'. 2.32pm - The Samaritans office in Coleraine is called with another warning. 'Am I through to Omagh? This is a bomb warning. It's going to go off in 30 minutes.' The caller said the bomb was 200 yards from the courthouse. He also gave the codeword 'Martha Pope'. 2.35pm - UTV receives another phone warning: 'Bomb, Omagh town, 15 minutes.' Two of these warnings were phoned from a call box in Forkhill, south Armagh. The third was made from a phone box in Newtownhamilton, also in south Armagh. 2.41pm - 5.10pm - UTV and the Samaritans both place emergency calls to the Royal Ulster Constabulary control centre. The message is immediately passed to officers in Omagh and an evacuation operation commences. There was no street named Main Street in Omagh. The only target specified was the courthouse, which was at the top of High Street at the west end of the town. The car had actually been parked at the east end of the town, on Market Street, more than 500 yards from the court. Police cordon off High Street and move shoppers and shop owners down to Market Street before commencing a search round the courthouse.

As a result all the people who had been in Omagh town centre when the warning came through had now assembled in Market Street, yards from the red Cavalier. Among those gathered was a group of Spanish students who were spending the summer in Buncrana. They had gone to Omagh for the day along with a number of local children from the Co Donegal town. After the car bomb tore through the crowded street, dozens of people rushed to help the injured victims 3.10pm - A 500lb bomb packed in the Cavalier is detonated with a remote trigger. The explosion tears through Market Street. Shop fronts on both sides are blown back on top of customers still inside. Glass, masonry and metal tears through the crowd on the street as a fireball sweeps out from the epicentre. Twenty-one people are killed instantly - some of their bodies were never found, such was the force of the blast. A water main under the road ruptures. Gallons of water gushes out. Some of the dead and badly injured are washed down the hill. 3.10pm - The emergency operation begins. The two ambulance crews on call at the nearby Tyrone County Hospital arrive at the scene within minutes. Survivors are already tending to the injured and covering the dead. Civilians who had been on nearby streets also rush to the scene to help. People grab medical supplies from a chemist's shop while linen from a draper's is used to cover the victims. Buses are commandeered from the nearby Ulster bus station to help take the injured to hospital. Shelves and doors are used as makeshift stretchers. As news of the attack filters through, off-duty medical personnel head for the hospital. As well as those who died, more than 300 people are injured in the blast. Army helicopters are scrambled to help the ambulance service ferry patients from the swamped Tyrone hospital to other medical centres. Omagh's leisure centre is transformed into an incident centre, with hundreds of relatives gathering there waiting for news on loved ones. Inundated with calls, the Tyrone County Hospital phone system crashes. Staff ask members of the public for mobile phones to contact other hospitals. A temporary morgue is set up in a British Army base in the town. A massive cross-border manhunt was launched after the bombing and no one has yet been convicted Sunday August 16:

Relatives of those people still unaccounted for wait at the leisure centre overnight. 12pm - The identity of the 28th victim who died on the day is revealed. Sixty-one-year Sean McGrath would die a month later from injuries suffered in the blast. 12.45pm - RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan addresses the world's press at the scene. 'This is an attack, not carried out against the police or the Army, but against the people of Omagh. 'We have had men, women and children slaughtered, slaughtered by murderers who want to murder, slaughtered by murderers who have nothing else to offer but murder, people who gave us a totally inaccurate warning, people who phoned to say there was a bomb close to the courthouse and as our officers searched and moved people from the area of the courthouse, a bomb detonated some 400 yards away.' An ambulance carrying one of the injured from the Erne hospital to Belfast collides with a car. The car's driver, 38-year-old father-of-three Gary White, is killed. The Queen, then prime minister Tony Blair, then Irish president Mary McAleese, then Irish taoiseach Bertie Ahern, then US president Bill Clinton and local politicians all voice their condemnation. Significantly Sinn Fein figures such as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness also condemn the attack - the first time they had unequivocally denounced a republican terrorist bombing. Tuesday August 18:

The Real IRA admits responsibility for the attack. The group claims its target was commercial and not civilian and blames loss of life on failure of RUC to respond to 'clear' warnings. Then Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam describes the statement as 'a pathetic excuse for mass murder'. Saturday August 22 :

One week after the attack a day of reflection is held. An estimated 60,000 people gather in Omagh with thousands more attending vigils in other towns and cities across Ireland. In Omagh, a service is conducted by church leaders on the steps of the courthouse. The event is best remembered for a moving performance by local singer Juliet Turner, whose ballad Broken Things was beamed across the world. Advertisement

Key witness in Omagh prosecution claimed suspect called him on 'bomber's phone' 20 minutes after massacre

Landmark case: Seamus Daly, pictured in 2014, was asked to pay compensation to victims' families after a landmark civil case - but the criminal case brought has failed badly

Denis O'Connor, a builder from Kilkenny in the Irish Republic, had claimed he received a call from Seamus Daly around 20 minutes after the bomb detonated on August 15, 1998.

The claim was crucial to the case, as the call made to Mr O'Connor was from a phone prosecutors believed was used by one of the Omagh bombers.

Phone mast evidence had tracked two mobiles on an apparent journey from the Irish Republic to Omagh and back again. The prosecution claimed these were phones used by the bombers.

If Mr O'Connor could identify Daly as the man on the end of one of those phones then the prosecution had a chance of success, Crown lawyers believed.

But the case never reached the floor of the Crown Court because many inconsistencies emerged when O'Connor's evidence was tested before a magistrate last week.

District Judge Peter King was presiding over a committal hearing in Omagh Magistrates' Court to determine whether the case against Daly was of sufficient strength to warrant trial.

The hearing was subject to reporting restrictions but now the prosecution has collapsed the details can be made public.

A number of holes emerged in O'Connor's evidence when he was challenged under intensive cross-examination by Daly's defence barrister Brenda Campbell.

His admission that the call he believed was from Daly may actually have been made a week prior to the Omagh bomb effectively holed the prosecution case below the water line.

A contradiction over whether or not he had ever met another man successfully sued for liability for the Omagh bomb - Dundalk-based publican and building contractor, Colm Murphy - also undermined the Crown case.

After reviewing 173 pages of Mr O'Connor's court deposition over recent days, Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory decided the evidential test for prosecution was no longer met.

Another eight witnesses had been due to take to the stand during the committal hearing in Omagh but they never got the chance.

The prosecution case against Daly had fallen at the first hurdle.

How Mail campaigned to bring killers to court

Despite yesterday's crushing blow, it is unlikely Seamus Daly would ever have faced a criminal court had the Omagh families' and the Mail not campaigned for justice.

Grieving relatives turned to us after police were unable to gather sufficient evidence to charge and convict the killers.

Shunned by the authorities, the families received vital backing from the Mail to launch a successful civil action against four Real IRA terrorists just two years after the 1998 bomb attack.

Readers responded magnificently to our appeal, helping raise £1.2million towards the landmark case for damages – with the Government later providing the extra £800,000 needed to bring it to court. There was anger in 2002 when it emerged that convicted IRA leader Michael McKevitt was granted legal aid while the families were told they would not qualify.

Opening the case in April 2008, the families' QC Lord Brennan described the bombing as 'a massacre of the innocents'.

The following year a Belfast judge ruled that Daly, along with Real IRA godfather McKevitt, his second-in-command Liam Campbell and republican dissident Colm Murphy, were behind the atrocity. In an historic court victory, the victims' relatives were awarded more than £1.6million in damages.

But for the families, it was never about the money – which they have yet to receive. Instead it was a long and bitter battle for the legal right to name the terrorists as murderers.