Talk:Omagh bombing/Archives/2009/9

Movement of police cordon or movement of people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Omagh_bombing&oldid=314975486

I think there may be some confusion over the police and the people being moved, the cordon was initially further out from the courthouse , then relaxed. But the people were not moved onto the bomb by the police.

http://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIHC/QB/2009/50.html

I think this explains it quite well and it's the most recent. Also has more detail then the current wikipedia article.

1. At approximately 2.30 pm a production assistant at the UTV newsroom received the first warning of the explosion. She recorded the warning as:

   "Bomb courthouse Omagh, Main Street. 500lbs explosion, 30 minutes. Martha Pope. IRA Oglanahan"

She immediately transmitted this message to police in Belfast and it was received by police communications at Omagh approximately 4 minutes later. A second call was made to the same newsroom two minutes later and another warning given.

   "Martha Pope 15 minutes, bomb Omagh Town."

This warning appears to have been received by police communications at Omagh at approximately the same time as the first warning. At about the same time a call was received by a Samaritans volunteer at Coleraine. It appears that the call had been diverted from the Samaritans service at Omagh. The warning advised that a bomb was going to go off in the centre of Omagh in 30 minutes and gave the code word "Marta Pope". The volunteer asked for clarification as to where the bomb would go off and was told "Main Street about 200 yards from the courthouse". The evidence indicates that this warning was received at the communications office at Omagh approximately 5 minutes after the first two warnings, at 2:38 p.m.

1. Police at Omagh quickly realised that this might well be a real attack rather than a hoax as they were advised that the code word "Martha Pope" had been used in the Banbridge bomb explosion two weeks earlier. The first warning to the UTV newsroom located the bomb at the courthouse and Main Street. There is no Main Street in Omagh. It appears that police on the ground were advised that the target of the attack was the courthouse and it does not appear that the third warning that the bomb was 200 yards from the courthouse which was given to the Samaritans in Coleraine was transmitted to or received by police responding to the bomb. Mobile patrols were at the scene within minutes of the first warnings being transmitted. Police set about directing people away from the courthouse at High Street and set a cordon across the junction of High Street and Market Street at Scarfe's Entry. Other police directed members of the public out of shops and into the entries away from the main shopping area. Although the cordon was nearly 300 yards away from the courthouse it appears that some time at or just before 3 p.m. police considered that it would be safer to move the cordon back towards the crossroads, a distance of approximately 440 yards from the courthouse. At about this time one officer was informed that there might be a lady in a flat above commercial premises in High Street. He kicked the door to gain access to the premises as police started to move the cordon down Market Street when the bomb exploded shortly after 3 p.m. The bomb exploded approximately 35 minutes after the first warning call was made.

1. In fact the bomb car was positioned approximately 375 yards from the courthouse and the police officers guiding the cordon back towards the cross roads were in fact walking directly towards it. The explosion caused horrendous carnage. 29 people and 2 unborn children were killed. Hundreds of people were injured. A substantial part of the commercial centre of Omagh was destroyed. Structural damage occurred over an area of 125 m and blast damage occurred over an area of 500 m. One of the issues explored at the trial was the effect of the failure to transmit to police on the ground the warning to the Samaritans in Coleraine that the bomb was 200 yards from the courthouse. Sgt McCracken indicated that if the warning had been transmitted he would have anticipated that a cordon would have been established at Scarfe's entry and that the cordon would then have been moved back to the crossroads. I accept that if this plan had been initiated as soon as police had become established on the ground the cordon may well have been moved beyond the bomb car before the explosion thereby reducing the risk of casualties. I also accept that if the Coleraine warning had been transmitted to police on the ground there may have been more focus on seeking to encourage members of public onto the side streets and entries away from the main shopping area.

78.105.147.180 (talk) 01:13, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

If you move a cordon for example 100 metres down a road, it stands to reason that you also move people 100 metres down the road. All five cited sources say the RUC moved the people towards the bomb, so I really do not know what your problem is? O Fenian (talk) 17:36, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

In point of fact, some people had to be forced down the road to Lower Marker Street, as many believed the bomb threat to have been a hoax.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 06:12, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

I thing I'm wrong about the cordon, however the telephone calls have the code words removed in the article at present and the distances are in meters, yards and seem to be swapped about without

consideration. I'll leave it for a while or someone else can update with the added details. The court also cover many details missing inclduing the mobile phone triangulation and how it worked out. 78.105.147.180 (talk)