Belfast Telegraph
(Note: Article is included due to Murphy's claim that Dermot Declan Gregory is an MI5 agent and was engaged in an elaborate plot to frame him. See: Colm Murphy Interview - MI5 agent in plot to frame me: dissident)
COLM Murphy, the only man ever convicted in connection with the Omagh bomb, should co-operate with the authorities if he condemns the atrocity, relatives of those killed have said.
The families' call comes after the veteran republican described the 1998 car bombing, the single biggest loss of life of the Troubles, as "awful, tragic".
"There is no question it should never have happened," he said.
"No-one in their right mind would say any different."
Stanley McComb, whose wife Anne was killed in the Real IRA blast, said: "Statements from people like that don't mean anything to me. He should come forward with information."
Twenty-nine people including a woman pregnant with unborn twins were killed when the 500lb blast ripped through Omagh town centre on a busy Saturday afternoon in August 1998.
Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Aiden added: "If Colm Murphy is now condemning the Omagh bomb then he should also do the right thing and contact the Garda or the PSNI and give an account of information he has in relation to it," Mr Gallagher said.
Murphy, a wealthy 57-year-old building contractor and publican was sentenced to 14 years for conspiracy to cause an explosion in 2002 but was cleared after a retrial earlier this year.
The veteran republican was also among four men found liable for the bomb blast after relatives of six victims won a landmark civil action at Belfast High Court last year. Murphy, a member of the Continuity IRA, lent two mobile phones to the gang which drove the bomb to Omagh. The verdict of the civil action is being appealed.
Last week his son Conan was among two men arrested during a high profile police raid in Dundalk, Co Louth. The 23-year-old along with Barry McKevitt was charged with possession of explosives after gardai swooped on a shed in Mount Pleasant, Dundalk.
No explosives were found but detectives believe that gas canisters removed from the scene were component parts of a "substantial explosive" device to be used by dissidents in Northern Ireland. Murphy has however insisted his son was making poitin.
"How can you be charged with possession of explosives when there were no explosives?" he told the Irish News.
CAPTION: Scene of terror: The aftermath of the Omagh bomb explosion in 1998 which killed 29 people
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