Omagh bomb suspect jailed over Real IRA

One of five men being sued in connection with the 1998 Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland was jailed for three-and-a-half years yesterday for being a member of the dissident guerilla group, the Real IRA.

Seamus Daly, 34, from County Monaghan near the Irish border with the British-ruled province, pleaded guilty to membership of an illegal organisation at Dublin's non-jury Special Criminal Court.

Mr Daly is named in a landmark civil action taken by families of the Omagh victims against five men they blame for the blast, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

The Real IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was the single deadliest attack in 30 years of political and sectarian violence in the province.

Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt was sentenced to 20 years last August for directing terrorism, a charge introduced after Omagh.

However, after more than five years no one has yet been charged with murder for the bombing, prompting frustrated relatives of the victims to take a civil case.

Being civil rather than criminal, the case cannot result in jail terms but legal experts believe it could lead to orders for substantial compensation.

The Real IRA split from the mainstream Irish Republican Army after the latter declared a ceasefire in its campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland in 1997.