The police ombudsman’s office is satisfied that the intelligence was given to Special Branch. The fact that Special Branch states that it never received these documents represents, at the very least, a very serious breakdown in communication.Preventing the bombingIt will never be known whether or not the bombing of Omagh could have been prevented.The RUC’s reviewA review of the RUC investigation was commenced in March 2000. The review contained an intelligence chapter, which was not initially made available to the police ombudsman’s investigators and highlights significant and fundamental errors within the investigation.Many evidential opportunities had been missed. The review report states that, when found, the anonymous information was marked as “Intelligence does not refer to Omagh”. No lines of inquiry had been undertaken by the Omagh bomb investigation team relating to the information. The reviewing officer identified delays of a year before follow-up actions were initiated on statements obtained.The senior investigation officer was refused access to some Army and Special Branch videos, which hampered lines of inquiry.From very soon after the bombing, neither the senior investigating officer nor deputy senior investigating officer were on the inquiry full-time. Around two months after the bombing substantial resources were removed from the investigation and further cuts in staff were to follow.There were many failures in the management and leadership of the Omagh bomb investigation.

There were considerable errors in the management of the investigative computer database.The information received between June and August 1998 has only recently been passed to the team investigating the Omagh bomb. This has deprived the team of significant lines of inquiry which could have emerged from considering this information in the light of other information available at the time.The police ombudsman has concerns on the management and dissemination of intelligence by Special Branch. The police ombudsman’s office has identified 360 intelligence documents within Special Branch which may have been of varying degrees of relevance to the Omagh bomb investigation. Seventy-eight per cent of these intelligence documents held by Special Branch have not been passed to the Omagh bomb investigation team.Ombudsman’s investigationSpecial Branch and the Chief Constable were reluctant to grant access to their material to police ombudsman’s investigators and failed to inform those investigators of a computer system where intelligence, vital to the investigation, was held..

A hugely damning official report accused police in Northern Ireland yesterday of failing in their duties before and after the killing of 29 people in the 1998 Omagh bombing. A defective investigation meant the chances of convicting the bombers had been reduced.Ms O’Loan declared: “The judgement and leadership of the Chief Constable has been seriously flawed. The victims, their families, the people of Omagh and officers of the RUC were let down by defective leadership, poor judgement and a lack of urgency.” She added: “Twenty-nine people died in that bomb. It hasn’t been investigated properly.”After the report was published, John Reid, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said he regretted the “acrimonious atmosphere”.Its publication came on the day the role of the RUC Special Branch was questioned once again by its critics. A former Special Branch agent, William Stobie, was shot dead outside his home in Belfast yesterday. Last month the trial of Stobie for the murder of Patrick Finucane, a solicitor, collapsed.

A loyalist group admitted killing Stobie, but republicans and others claimed intelligence elements may have been involved.The O’Loan report called for a fresh inquiry into the RUC’s performance over the Omagh bombing, and in effect accused Sir Ronnie and the Special Branch of obstructing her investigation. In particular, she wants an investigation into the role of the Special Branch.Ms O’Loan met relatives of the Omagh dead. Lawrence Rush, whose wife, Libby, died in the bombing, said: “There is absolutely no reason why Omagh should have happened. The police have been in dereliction of their duty.” Kevin Skelton, who also lost his wife, said: “I feel absolutely betrayed.”Sir Ronnie said: “So gross is this that I have to say that legal advice is being taken both on a personal and an organisational basis. We’re considering whether it may be appropriate to take legal remedy to have this report quashed.”. Britain’s postal service was threatened with national strikes yesterday after a warning of up to 30,000 job losses.