Former Royal IRA leader Michael McKevitt dies



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Former Royal IRA leader Michael McKevitt died after a battle with cancer.

McKevitt, one of the four men responsible for the Omagh bomb, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer several years ago.

He was released in 2016 after serving a 20-year sentence for directing terrorism and belonging to an illegal organization.

The 71-year-old was married to Bernadette Sands McKevitt, sister of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.

Omagh bombing

From Co Louth, McKevitt has always denied involvement in the 1998 Omagh bombing, but in 2009 a judge ruled in a landmark civil trial that McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were responsible for the bomb.

He ordered them to pay a total of £ 1.6 million in damages to 12 family members who took up the case.

A fifth man, Seamus McKenna, was acquitted of responsibility for the bombing.

No one has ever been convicted of the dissident Republican bombing in Omagh that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

In a statement released by the Republican Network for Unity on Facebook, they said: “(We are) deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our friend and comrade Michael McKevitt.”

In 2019, McKevitt was declared bankrupt in Superior Court after failing to pay damages.

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