Omagh suspect defence bid fails

An attempt to stop key scientific evidence being used against a man accused of murdering 29 people in the Real IRA bombing of Omagh has failed.

Sean Gerard Hoey,36, from Molly Road, Jonesborough, south Armagh, faced 61 charges at Belfast Magistrates Court.

A preliminary hearing was told that the 36-year-old had been linked to three other bomb attacks by DNA evidence.

His defence lawyers objected to forensic evidence, which prosecutors claimed built a case against him.

However, a bid to have this evidence dismissed, was rejected on Tuesday.

In court, his defence team objected to key forensic evidence including voice analysis and statistics which, the prosecution claimed, built a case against him, pointing they said, to his involvement in a series of bombings including Omagh.

Mr Hoey's lawyers argued this evidence dealt with possibility and probability and did not amount to proof.

The magistrate, who rejected the defence argument, will have to decide over the next few days whether Sean Hoey should stand trial.

Twenty-nine men, women and children died and hundreds were injured in the car bomb attack in the County Tyrone town on 15 August 1998.

It was the single worst atrocity in 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.