Omagh bomb transporter was an agent for MI5 and Irish police, inquiry hears

Retired Ch Supt Norman Baxter, who led the investigation into the Omagh bombing, told the Omagh Bombing Inquiry on Friday that the man who transported the bomb was working as an agent for both UK security services and the gardaí. He said it became apparent during his investigation that the individual was a Garda agent, and that in one operation there was a high potential he was jointly handled by the security services.

Baxter went further, telling the hearing he believed the authorities knew who was behind the attack before it happened. He said he formed the view that Special Branch, the security service and GCHQ knew the identities of some, if not all, of the suspects prior to 15 August 1998. Asked how much they knew, he replied: 'The amount of information they knew I can't assess but yes, they knew.'

He alleged there was 'significant effort by the Garda to prevent their activities being uncovered', and said the Irish government and particularly the Ministry of Justice had failed to investigate Garda operations in the run-up to Omagh. He also alleged gardaí allowed devices to travel across the border into Northern Ireland, with some bombs supplied by a source to dissidents and later detonated. 'The government of Ireland had information that a bombing was imminent,' he said.

Senior counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney KC read from Baxter's report, detailing what may have been a rehearsal. A vehicle carrying the registration of Seamus McKenna's car was logged entering the Thiepval military base in Lisburn in September 1997, reappeared on the system on 12 August 1998 and crossed the border at Aughnacloy on 14 August, the day before the bombing. A second vehicle, linked to Liam Campbell, also travelled the route. Baxter said it 'might have been a test run in terms of timing how long it took from the origins of the bomb to the target site'.

Baxter said the bombers had 'free reign' from the middle of 1997 and that authorities let it continue, adding there were a number of opportunities when the group could have been disrupted. He described his own guilt at sitting in meetings with victims' groups who spoke of Garda collusion and knowledge, saying he knew they were telling the truth but legally could not confirm it. He called the police investigation an 'absolute failure' at leadership and government level.

The most damning missed chance, he said, came the night before the attack, when known members of the Provisional IRA were seen with the car containing the bomb at Cullaville GAA club in County Armagh. The bomb was in a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier. The PIRA was on a ceasefire at the time. 'If one of those people had have called the security forces... they could have saved the lives in Omagh,' he said. He added it was 'probably not safe to assume it was just one informer' and that there may have been a second. The Real IRA claimed responsibility three days after the blast, apologising to civilian victims. No one has been convicted by a criminal court; in 2009 Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were ordered to pay £1.6m in damages to relatives, with appeals delaying the compensation process.