Former IRA leader Michael McKevitt dies



[ad_1]

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.

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.

Police officers and firefighters inspecting the damage caused by a bomb explosion in Market Street, Omagh, in 1998 (Paul McErlane / PA)

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.

[ad_2]