Judge rules Omagh trial to go on

Twenty-nine people died in the Omagh bombing

The judge at the Omagh bomb trial has ruled the case should continue.

Mr Justice Weir rejected a defence application calling for the case to be thrown out.

In a short statement, he said at this stage the evidence did not have to show a case against Sean Hoey "beyond reasonable doubt".

Mr Hoey, 37, from Jonesborough in south Armagh, denies 56 charges, including the Omagh bombing. Two charges against him have now been officially dropped.

The judge said the test to decide if the trial should continue was whether the evidence was "so discredited or so intrinsically weak" that it could not support a conviction.

He ruled that the case did not fail that test.

The prosecution accepted there was no case to answer in the two charges that were dropped.

The remaining charges against Mr Hoey include include 29 counts of murder as a result of the Omagh bombing, which happened in August 1998.

There have now been more than 50 days of evidence at the trial.

The crown had completed its case before the application by the defence to have it thrown out.

Mr Hoey's legal team will begin responding to it when the trial resumes in the new year.