John Hunter column: Mandy appears to have forgotten the basics of law

IS PETER Mandelson really as hazy on the law as he is in remembering his own phone calls?

Seems he may be, if he was correctly quoted last week, announcing support for a civil court case to be brought against suspected Omagh bombers.

He also gave pounds 10,000 to the legal fund and to suggest that a timely, personal PR exercise was partly involved in this generous gesture would be unfair.

But in declaring support for the Omagh families' fund, which has to raise pounds 1million by August, Mandelson claimed that such a civil case, decided on a lower standard of evidence than a criminal trial, would not undermine a later criminal prosecution.

He was even reported as saying that a civil finding against suspects might actually help a future criminal case.

The fact is of course that the Omagh victims' families feel driven to sue suspects allegedly involved in the bombing because they see no prospect of a criminal prosecution being brought.

And the reality is that if such a case is mounted, it will almost certainly undermine the possibility of any later criminal trial on the grounds of prejudice.

Win or lose in the compensation case, anyone identified there as a suspect will claim that a fair criminal trial would be impossible because of previous damaging publicity.

Last year's BBC Panorama feature may have been crusading journalism, but it was no coincidence that the decision to screen it was opposed by, among others, Lawrence Rushe, whose wife died in the RIRA massacre, David Trimble, the Republic's Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne.

What concerned them was the possibility that public identification of suspects might prejudice criminal prosecution.

And, indeed, one of those named on Panorama, currently charged with a terrorist offence in the Republic, is claiming exactly that in his defence.

The same claims may well be made by anyone named in the planned civil case should evidence to prosecute later emerge.

The fact is, however, that the Omagh victims have been denied justice, and serious political questions on the case have yet to be answered satisfactorily.

Last week, the boss of the Veronica Guerin murder-gang got 28 years in Dublin for drug-dealing.

Several other gang-members have been convicted on the basis of accomplice evidence from others involved in the crimes.

What attempt was made to develop similar evidence in the Omagh bombings, when it's said the Garda had several informants in RIRA before the massacre?

Last year, the Republic's Justice Minister John O'Donoghue angrily denied that gardai were prevented from using three possible supergrasses close to the RIRA because it might upset the peace process.

What about the emergency laws rushed in by the British and Irish governments after Omagh, described at the time by O'Donoghue as "harsh measures" but which have yielded no results?

Questions to be answered, not by despairing Omagh families, but by both Governments.

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