Omagh bombing: Inquiry hears evidence of movements of car that carried bomb

Later on Monday, a senior British Army officer gave evidence to the Omagh inquiry.

Col Peter MacMullan is the assistant head of operational legacy for the British Army and has served for 35 years, including on duty in Northern Ireland.

It was made clear he had no involvement in relation to the Omagh bombing while serving.

His evidence covered the British Army deployment in Northern Ireland in August 1998 and British Army arrangements at the Aughnacloy border crossing on 15 August 1998.

He was questioned about the structure of the Ministry of Defence and the Army and Army vehicle checkpoints in Northern Ireland.

MacMullan said that permanent vehicle check points (PVCPs) were a valuable source of information for gathering intelligence.

“It comes from a period of time when not all roads across the border were open. There was restricted access and so the check points were set along them in order to monitor that traffic.”

The hearing heard that when the bomb car passed through Aughnacloy, the checkpoint was unmanned and managed remotely from the military base in Aughnacloy.

There is no information on record at the MoD as to the number of cameras or where they were located at the Aughnacloy checkpoint.

But the Vauxhall cavalier carrying the bomb was not captured on the CCTV.

Paul Greaney KC said that there was “no indication from the records of the Ministry of Defence of any deliberate human interference with the recording”.

“None”, said MacMullan noting that it was a “failing” of the system that not every car was recorded.

“It wasn’t a perfect system but it was the leading technology of it’s time.”