Colm Murphy

Born in Belleeks, County Armagh,{{cite news|title=Trapped by technology and terrorist past |author=Paul Gallagher |url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=83242002 |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=23 January 2002 |access-date=16 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051029060137/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=83242002 |archive-date=29 October 2005 }} on 18 August 1952,{{cite book | last = Harnden | first = Toby | author-link = Toby Harnden | title = Bandit Country | publisher = Hodder & Stoughton | year = 1999 | pages = 180 | isbn = 0-340-71736-X}} Murphy was an active Irish republican paramilitary from his late teens. In March 1972, he was arrested in Dundalk regarding an assault, and was sentenced to two years in prison after the Garda Síochána found a loaded revolver in his car.{{cite news | title = Hardliner who could not say no to the cause | author = Rosie Cowan | url = https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,637812,00.html | newspaper = The Guardian | date = 23 January 2002 | access-date = 1 March 2007 | location=London}} Murphy was imprisoned in the Curragh 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 membership, both sentences to run concurrently. In July 1983, Murphy was arrested in the US, after attempting to buy a consignment of M60 machine guns to be shipped to Ireland for use by the Irish National Liberation Army. 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 in Dundalk for IR£100,000, and it later became a meeting place for dissident republicans. Other investments included {{convert|30|acre|m2}} of land in Drogheda bought for IR£52,000 in 1995, and his company won contracts for an IR£11 million development at Dublin City University and the multi-million pound International Financial Services Centre in Dublin's docklands.

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, when he appeared before Dublin's Special Criminal Court and was charged with conspiring 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.{{cite news | title = Publican in court over Omagh case | author = Alan Murdoch | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/publican-in-court-over-omagh-case-1073071.html | newspaper = The Independent | date = 25 February 1999 | access-date = 30 May 2020}}{{cite news | title = Pub owner charged in N. Ireland bombing | url = http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_19990225/ai_n10487448 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924121639/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_19990225/ai_n10487448 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 24 September 2015 | newspaper = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | date = 25 February 1999 | access-date = 1 March 2007}}

On 10 October 2000, the BBC television show Panorama named Murphy as one of four people connected with the Omagh bombing, along with Seamus Daly and Liam Campbell.{{cite news | title = Timeline: the Omagh bombing | url = https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,638679,00.html | newspaper = The Guardian | date = 26 July 2002 | access-date = 17 April 2007 | location=London}}{{cite news | title = Mobile phones key to Omagh probe | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/965274.stm | publisher = BBC | date = 10 October 2000 | access-date = 17 April 2007}} In 2001, Murphy undertook legal action against the BBC and Daily Mail publishers Associated Newspapers for contempt of court. 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.{{cite web|title=Contempt of court proceedings resolved |url=http://rte.ie/news/2001/0731/omagh.html |website=RTÉ |date=31 July 2001 |access-date=17 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050218031928/http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/0731/omagh.html |archive-date=18 February 2005 }}

Murphy's trial began at Special Criminal Court in Dublin on 12 October 2001.{{cite web | title = Omagh bombing plot trial starts | url = http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/1012/murphy.html | website = RTÉ | date = 21 October 2001 | access-date = 17 April 2007}} 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.{{cite news|title=Witness in Omagh bomb case retracts evidence |author=David McKittrick |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/witness-in-omagh-bomb-case-retracts-evidence-9194962.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=12 January 2002 |access-date=2 February 2020 |location=London}} 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.{{cite news|title=Omagh bomb plot man is sentenced to 14 years' jail |author=David McKittrick |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/omagh-bomb-plot-man-is-sentenced-to-14-years-jail-9224896.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=26 January 2002 |access-date=2 February 2020 |location=London|df=dmy}}

On 21 January 2005, Murphy's conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered, due to the invasion of Murphy's presumption of innocence, and alteration of Gardaí interview notes and evidence presented by two officers.{{cite news|title=Omagh bombing convict wins appeal |author=David McKittrick |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/omagh-bombing-convict-wins-appeal-487589.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=21 January 2005 |access-date=2 February 2020 |location=London}} 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".{{cite news|title=BBC contempt case resolved |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bbc-contempt-case-resolved-26006422.html |newspaper=Irish Independent |date=29 January 2005 |access-date= 30 May 2020}}

On 23 October 2006, two Gardaí officers were found not guilty of perjuring themselves during Murphy's trial.{{cite news | title = Garda cleared in Omagh bomb case | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6077476.stm | publisher = BBC | date = 23 October 2006 | access-date = 17 April 2007}} On 23 May 2007, it was announced that Murphy was 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.{{cite web|title=Man charged over Omagh bomb claims memory loss|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-charged-over-omagh-bomb-claims-memory-loss-1.1207079|publisher=The Irish Times |date=23 May 2007 |access-date=2 February 2020}} 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0608/omagh.html|title=Four found liable for Omagh bomb|date=8 June 2009|access-date=8 June 2009|publisher=RTÉ News}} On 7 July 2011, in Belfast High Court, Lord Justice Malachy Higgins directed a retrial of the civil claims against Murphy. He questioned evidence surrounding emails from US undercover agent David Rupert 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0707/omagh.html|title=Two of four Omagh civil action appeals allowed|date=7 July 2011|access-date=7 July 2011|publisher=RTÉ News}} Following a civil retrial, on 20 March 2013, Murphy and Seamus Daly were found liable for involvement in the bombing.{{cite news| url = https://www.thejournal.ie/colm-murphy-seamus-daly-omagh-civil-action-839273-Mar2013/ | title = Two found liable in Omagh bomb civil retrial |date=7 July 2011 | access-date = 30 May 2020 | publisher = TheJournal.ie}}

Murphy died of degenerative lung disease on 18 April 2023, at the age of 70.{{cite news |title=Man found liable for Omagh bombing has died aged 60 |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/man-found-liable-for-omagh-bombing-has-died-aged-60/2014527481.html |access-date=18 April 2023 |publisher=Belfast Telegraph |date=18 April 2023}}

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Category:1952 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Escapees from Irish detention

Category:Irish builders

Category:Irish National Liberation Army members

Category:Irish republicans

Category:Irish republicans imprisoned by non-jury courts

Category:Overturned convictions

Category:People convicted of arms trafficking

Category:People from County Armagh

Category:Provisional Irish Republican Army members

Category:Real Irish Republican Army

Category:Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict