Colm Murphy (born 18 August 1952) is an
Irish republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The developm ...
who was the first person to be convicted in connection with the
Omagh bombing
The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA), a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group who oppo ...
, but whose conviction was overturned on appeal.
[Murphy further remanded over Omagh](_blank)
''The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
''. Published 8 May 2008. While awaiting a
retrial on criminal charges, Murphy was found liable for the bombing in a
civil trial, along with
Michael McKevitt,
Liam Campbell
Liam Campbell is an Irish republican from Dundalk, County Louth. He was found liable under civil proceedings for the 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people.
Family
His brother Sean died in December 1975, when a landmine he was preparing f ...
and
Seamus Daly
Seamus Daly ( Irish: Séamus Ó Dálaigh) is an Irish republican from Kilmurray, Castleblayney, County Monaghan. He was charged with being a member of the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) in Dublin's Special Criminal Court in 2004, plead ...
.
[The men sued by the Omagh families](_blank)
''BBC News'', Monday, 8 June 2009. He was subsequently cleared of criminal charges in February 2010.
[Omagh bomb accused Colm Murphy cleared by retrial](_blank)
/ref>
Background
Born in Belleeks, County Armagh, Murphy was an active Irish republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The developm ...
paramilitary from his late teens. In March 1972, he was arrested in Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
regarding an assault, and was sentenced to two years in prison after the Garda Síochána
(; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gove ...
found a loaded revolver in his car. Murphy was imprisoned in the Curragh
The Curragh ( ; ga, An Currach ) is a flat open plain of almost of common land in County Kildare. This area is well known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the ...
military jail but escaped in October 1972, and was not recaptured until May 1973. In June 1976, he was imprisoned again, receiving a three-year sentence for firearms offences and a one-year sentence for Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
membership, both sentences to run concurrently. In July 1983, Murphy was arrested in the US, after attempting to buy a consignment of M60 machine gun
The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. There are several types of ammunition approved fo ...
s to be shipped to Ireland for use by the Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as " the Troubles". The group se ...
. He received a five-year prison sentence, but returned to Ireland in December 1985 after being released early.
In the late 1980s, Murphy began investing in property, and formed a company named Emerald Enterprises in 1990. He bought the ''Emerald Bar'' public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
in Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
for IR£100,000, and it later became a meeting place for dissident republicans
Dissident republicans, renegade republicans, anti-Agreement republicans or anti-ceasefire republicans ( ga, poblachtach easaontach) are Irish republicans who do not support the current peace agreements in Northern Ireland. The agreements follow ...
. Other investments included of land in Drogheda
Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...
bought for IR£52,000 in 1995, and his company won contracts for an IR£11m development at Dublin City University
Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the '' National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its ...
and the multi-million pound International Financial Services Centre
The International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) is an area of central Dublin and part of the CBD established in the 1980s as an urban regeneration area and special economic zone (SEZ) on the derelict state-owned former port authority lan ...
in Dublin's docklands.
Dissident republican activity
Murphy was arrested by the Gardaí on 21 February 1999 for questioning under anti-terrorist legislation. On 24 February, Murphy became the first person charged in connection with the Omagh bombing
The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA), a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group who oppo ...
, when he appeared before Dublin's Special Criminal Court
The Special Criminal Court (SCC; ga, Cúirt Choiriúil Speisialta) is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases.
Legal basis
Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to ...
and was charged with conspiring
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agr ...
to cause an explosion under the terms of Ireland's Offences Against the State Act, between 13 and 16 August 1998. Murphy was also charged with membership of an illegal organisation, the Real Irish Republican Army
The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), is a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a United Ireland. It formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members, who rejected the ...
.
On 10 October 2000, the BBC television show ''Panorama
A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined i ...
'' named Murphy as one four people connected with the Omagh bombing, along with Seamus Daly
Seamus Daly ( Irish: Séamus Ó Dálaigh) is an Irish republican from Kilmurray, Castleblayney, County Monaghan. He was charged with being a member of the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) in Dublin's Special Criminal Court in 2004, plead ...
and Liam Campbell
Liam Campbell is an Irish republican from Dundalk, County Louth. He was found liable under civil proceedings for the 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people.
Family
His brother Sean died in December 1975, when a landmine he was preparing f ...
. In 2001, Murphy undertook legal action against the BBC and ''Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' publishers Associated Newspapers for contempt of court
Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...
. The action against Associated Newspapers was settled on 31 July 2001, and the newspaper released a statement saying Murphy was entitled to be presumed innocent of the charges against him until proven guilty.
Murphy's trial began at Special Criminal Court
The Special Criminal Court (SCC; ga, Cúirt Choiriúil Speisialta) is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases.
Legal basis
Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to ...
in Dublin on 12 October 2001. The court heard that Murphy had supplied two mobile phones which were used during the bombing. One witness, Murphy's second cousin, retracted his evidence and the judge called the conduct of two detectives outrageous, saying they had persistently lied under cross-examination
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and m ...
. Despite this, on 22 January 2002, Murphy was convicted of conspiring to cause the Omagh bombing, and on 25 January was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with the judge describing him as a long-time republican extremist.
On 21 January 2005, Murphy's conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered, due to the invasion of Murphy's presumption of innocence
The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must present com ...
, and alteration of Gardaí interview notes and evidence presented by two officers. A week later, Murphy's legal case against the BBC was resolved, with the BBC issuing a statement that Murphy "was fully entitled to maintain his innocence of the charges against him and to test the evidence against him at his trial".
On 23 October 2006, two Gardaí officers were found not guilty of perjuring themselves during Murphy's trial. On 23 May 2007, it was announced that Murphy is suffering from short-term memory loss resulting from a car accident in 1988. His lawyers attempted to prevent a retrial taking place, on the grounds that his condition interfered with his right to a fair hearing. The Court of Criminal Appeal was scheduled to hear his case again in October 2008. Following a retrial held in January 2010, Murphy was acquitted on 24 February 2010.
In 2009, Murphy was one of four men found by a civil court to be liable for the Omagh bombing in a case taken by relatives of the victims. On 7 July 2011, in Belfast High Court, Lord Justice Malachy Higgins
Sir Malachy Joseph Higgins (born 30 October 1944) is a retired Northern Ireland Lord Justice of Appeal.
Education
He was educated at St MacNissi's College, Garron Tower; Queen's University Belfast (LLB) and Middle Temple (BL).
Legal background ...
directed a retrial of the civil claims against Murphy. He questioned evidence surrounding emails from US undercover agent David Rupert
David Rupert (born July 27, 1951) is an American former FBI/British intelligence agent whose testimony led to the arrest and prosecution of Michael McKevitt, the reputed leader of the Real IRA, for the Omagh Bombing.
Background
David Rupert was a ...
while overturning the judgment on Murphy. The paucity of the email evidence, the lack of consistency in the emails or at least ambiguity, the possibility of initials referring to someone other than Murphy and the fact that they refer on occasions to double hearsay considerably weakened the emails as evidence, he said. Following a civil retrial, on 20 March 2013, Murphy and Seamus Daly were found liable for involvement in the bombing.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Colm
1952 births
Escapees from Irish detention
Irish builders
Irish National Liberation Army members
Irish republicans
Irish republicans imprisoned by non-jury courts
Living people
Overturned convictions
People convicted of arms trafficking
People from County Armagh
Provisional Irish Republican Army members
Real Irish Republican Army
Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict