Husband of Omagh bombing victim challenges inquiry to deliver truth for victims

A man whose wife was killed in the Omagh bombing has challenged a public inquiry to provide the truth about the atrocity to victims.

Kevin Skelton said he did not trust the Irish Government to co-operate with the inquiry, adding that without such co-operation it was “dead in the water”.

The Omagh Bombing Inquiry is continuing with four weeks of public commemorative hearings, recalling the lives of and hearing tributes to all those killed and impacted by the 1998 Real IRA atrocity which killed 29 people, including a mother pregnant with twins.

The probe, led by Scottish judge Lord Turnbull, is examining whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by UK authorities.

Among those giving evidence on Monday was Kevin Skelton, whose 39-year-old wife Philomena was among those killed in the bombing.

Mr Skelton said it was beyond him trying to understand what cause the dissident bombers were trying to achieve by “blowing up women and children”.

Counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney KC read part of Mr Skelton’s witness statement to him.

It said: “When I think of the amount of crap we went through fighting for compensation.

“Then you had the likes of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Bertie Ahern, all coming to Omagh with promises of no stone will be left unturned to bring those responsible to justice.

“But to be honest, they didn’t turn too many stones and no-one was ever convicted.”

Mr Skelton told the inquiry that he had always maintained that nobody would ever be convicted for the Omagh bombing.

He said: “Some families took a civil action, that is entirely up to them, but what did it achieve?

“Them boys don’t care. They were prepared to put a bomb in the middle of a busy street, they don’t care about being named.

“Every time that Omagh comes up there is always something which hits it on the head.

“This inquiry that is coming now, is it going to produce something for the families now?

“I wasn’t in favour of the inquiry, it is not that I don’t want justice.”

He added: “Now with this inquiry it will be Omagh for the next god knows how long.

“All I want is truth. Are we going to get the truth that on that particular day, in a garrison town, why was the Army not brought in to clear the street?

“On that particular day, soldiers out in the camp, not one of them was used until the bomb went off.

“I would like somebody to answer that question.”

Mr Greaney said: “Many people will feel the inquiry cannot deliver justice, because justice means people being convicted.

“But what we can promise is we know there are many unanswered questions and we will do what we can to answer them.”

Mr Skelton said he did not trust the Irish or British governments to deliver answers.

He added: “I met more secretaries of state nearly than I had hot dinners, and not one of them ever did anything for us.

“But the Irish Government, I don’t see them playing ball with this inquiry.

“And if they don’t then it is dead in the water.

“At the end of the day, the bomb was made in the south, the people who built the bomb were from the south, the car was stolen in the south, the car was driven from the south.

“There are some of them still walking the streets.”

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has previously pledged that the Irish Government will give full co-operation to the inquiry.

Earlier, the inquiry heard a statement from the family of 56-year-old bombing victim Veda Short.

In the statement, the four children of Mrs Short said their father never recovered from the death of his wife in 1998.

They said: “Our dad was a broken man from that day on. His whole world had just collapsed and he had nothing left to live for.

“We lost both our parents that awful day. Our dad became depressed and with ill-health he passed away in June 2004, aged just 64.

“Another casualty of the Omagh bomb.”