Omagh bombing 'could have been prevented', inquiry told as RUC chief warned report would 'destroy the peace process'

Baroness Nuala O'Loan, Northern Ireland's first police ombudsman, told the Omagh Bombing Inquiry there is a "very cogent argument" that authorities could have stopped the 1998 atrocity that killed 31 people, including unborn twins. She revealed former RUC chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan warned her that publishing her critical report would "destroy the peace process", and she was branded a "suicide bomber who had outlived my usefulness" on television during the 2001 row over her findings.

O'Loan's 2001 report found police received an anonymous tip on August 4th that an attack would target Omagh on the 15th — but it was never acted upon.

Individual Real IRA bombings before Omagh were never linked to each other, O'Loan told the inquiry, adding that connecting them with mobile phone evidence could have "hindered very definitely" the group's activities.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan, who was O'Loan's own former law student at the University of Ulster, is due to give evidence to the inquiry himself.