FBI spy testifies at Omagh trial

Sean Hoey will not be giving evidence at his trial

The Omagh bomb trial has heard information from an FBI spy who had infiltrated dissident republican groups at the time of the 1998 atrocity.

Belfast Crown Court was told that he named more than 100 members and associates of dissident republicans.

However Sean Hoey - who denies involvement in the bombing and a series of other attacks - was not one of them. David Rupert was an FBI agent who was recruited as a supporter by dissident republicans in 1997.

Over the next four years he met organisers and leaders of both the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA.

He then passed on information to both the FBI and the British Security Services in e-mails totalling some 2,000 pages.

'Individual suspected'

In the documents, he named more than 100 people linked to dissidents in north America and Ireland and he described others.

In a document read in court on Monday - and agreed by the prosecution and the defence - Mr Rupert said he did meet people involved in terrorist attacks.

These included an individual suspected by the police of involvement in the Omagh bombing.

However, the FBI agent never named Sean Hoey in the e-mails nor described him as being involved with dissident groups.

The 37-year-old, from Jonesborough, County Armagh, denies a total of 56 charges, including 29 counts of murder as a result of the Omagh bombing.

The court also heard Mr Rupert was told by dissident republicans that the Omagh bombing was actually a joint operation between the Continuity and the Real IRA.

The FBI spy's information was said to be both accurate and reliable, the court was told.