Omagh families ‘woefully let down’ by police, father of victim tells inquiry

The families of those bereaved in the Omagh bombing were “woefully let down” by a poor police investigation, the father of a boy killed in the explosion has said.

Victor Barker told the Omagh Bombing Inquiry that his son James’s life had been taken away from him in the most “evil and barbaric fashion”.

James Barker was 12 when he was killed in the bombing.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed when the Real IRA bombed the Co Tyrone town in August 1998.

A public inquiry, being held at the Strule Arts Centre, has been hearing personal statements from those affected by the massacre.

Appearing via a remote link, Mr Barker said: “Like so many thousands of others who have lost loved ones in the Troubles, I have some very dark moments.

“But I have done all I can to bring some kind of justice for James and everyone else.

“We have been woefully let down by a very poorly conducted police investigation and, I might add, a chief constable in Sir Ronnie Flanagan who, in my view, fell well short of the mark.

“The civil case has taken a great deal out of so many families.

“James had his life taken away from him in the most evil and barbaric fashion and he was robbed of his bright and happy future.

“I sometimes doubt whether he has the same human rights as the terrorists.

“We should all remember that pain has no nationality and no borders, but neither does the love of the human heart.”

Concluding the proceedings for Monday, counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney KC said that Tracey Devine, who was severely injured in the explosion which killed her daughter Breda, had died on Saturday.

He said the inquiry would not sit during her funeral on Tuesday.

Earlier, the inquiry had heard from emergency service workers who had been in Omagh on the day of the explosion.

Richard Quigley told the inquiry that he was a young paramedic and Omagh was the first explosion he had ever attended.

He gave evidence that he had helped to transfer dead victims in body bags from the scene to a temporary mortuary.

He said: “I recall seeing the number of body bags laid out and each had its own area. All in rows.

“The size of the gym and the number of the body bags on the floor was something that should only have been seen in a movie.”

The inquiry also heard from firefighter Paddy Quinn, who said he has never forgotten his experiences from attending the bomb scene.

Recalling for years how he had struggled to return to the site, he said: “I couldn’t drive it, I couldn’t walk it.

“I would go right round the town, no matter where I was, and enter through George’s Street and down past the courthouse to avoid it.

“People had died there, people were injured there. I couldn’t walk over it, I couldn’t drive over it.”

Mr Greaney read statements from three survivors of the attack, Maeve O’Brien, her sister Dervlagh, and Damian Murphy.

Maeve O’Brien was 13 and had been shopping in Omagh on the day of the attack.

She said people were moved to Market Street, where the bomb exploded, but her grandmother said they should move to another location.

She said this was the reason she and her family were not physically harmed.

Her statement said: “My life has been divided into a time of living before and after the Omagh bomb.

“It was the end of childhood and the final loss of innocence for me.

“Even now, in 2024, I can viscerally remember the sound of the bomb, the strange electrical smell and the haze coming from Market Street.”

She added: “I remember the panic and fear in everyone’s movements after the initial blast.

“I have a true understanding of the saying your blood running cold.”

Her sister, Dervlagh, was eight years old on the day the bomb exploded.

She recalled the power of the blast causing her to fall to the ground and crawling underneath a car for safety.

She said the subsequent scenes of devastation in the town have had a lifelong impact on her.

She said: “In my 20s I developed panic attacks.

“I took myself to Omagh minor injuries unit, as I believed I was having a heart attack.”

She added: “I feel my experience will have a lifelong negative impact on the quality of my life.”

Mr Murphy was training to be a teacher in 1998 and had gone into Omagh to send some emails.

He said the bomb exploded as he reached the town’s library.

“I came back through the smoke and dust to Lower Market Street,” he said.

“The screams and smells were overwhelming.

“I first saw people come past me with loads of bleeding.”

He said he met three Spanish girls who were bleeding and he gave them paper towels.

“I was somewhat dazed as I entered what looked like Market Street. My immediate thought was to get people out of here.

“I jumped in a window and grabbed a chair. I saw a policeman. I shouted at him and said ‘Come on, let’s get people out of here’.

“We put people on the chair and lifted them down for easier access to cars and ambulances.

“I can’t remember how many times we did this.”