COLM Murphy who was found liable in a civil trial for the Omagh bomb in 1998 has died at the age of 70 in a Co. Louth hospital. He was suffering from degenerative lung disease.
Murphy from Belleeks, Co. Armagh, was originally arrested over the bombing in 1999 in a joint Royal Ulster Constabulary-Garda investigation.
Twenty-nine people died after the bombing in Omagh in August 1998, including a woman pregnant with twins.
It was the biggest single atrocity in the Troubles.
In 2002, Murphy was convicted of conspiring to cause the Omagh bombing, and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. The judge described him as a long-time republican extremist
But in a 2010 retrial he was acquitted, after interview evidence from An Garda Síochána was ruled inadmissible.
In 2008, relatives of some of the victims began a landmark civil case, suing five men they claimed were involved, including Murphy.
The next year, a Belfast judge ruled that Murphy and four others were all liable for the Omagh bomb.
They were ordered to pay a total of £1.6m in damages to 12 relatives who took the case.
In 2011, Murphy won an appeal, but in a civil retrial in 2013 he was again found liable.
To date, no one has been held criminally liable for the Omagh bombing.
