Omagh bomb suspect on trial

BELFAST - One of the biggest mass murder trials in British or Irish history got under way yesterday, eight years after 29 people died in the Omagh bombing, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Sean Gerard Hoey, 37, appeared in court in Belfast charged with the murders. Hoey, of Jonesborough, also faces 29 further terrorist charges relating to other bombings and conspiracies.

The trial is expected to last for three months.

The bomb attack by the splinter group the Real IRA, in August 1998, has already had a variety of legal sequels, with several of those suspected of involvement jailed for various offences. But no one has been convicted of the actual murders. Hoey denies all charges.

- INDEPENDENT