Omagh Bombing: Two Blamed By Civil Court

Two men have been found liable for the Omagh bombing following a landmark civil action at Belfast High Court.

Republicans Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly have been confirmed to be responsible for the Northern Ireland atrocity after having attempted to overturn a lawsuit taken out by some of the victims.

Murphy and Daly had been ordered to face a retrial after they successfully appealed a finding of liability against them in the original case in Belfast High Court.

But their second trial delivered the same outcome in the same court, with judge Mr Justice John Gillen ruling the men were responsible for the 1998 Real IRA atrocity.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, died when the dissident republican car bomb ripped through the Co Tyrone market town on August 15, 1998. More than 200 were injured in the blast.

Murphy was tried and convicted in the Irish criminal courts but was released after it was revealed that the Gardaí forged interview notes used in the case.

Because no-one was successfully convicted of the bombing, in 2009 some of the bereaved families took out a civil case against four people accused of the attack.

Colm Murphy is one of those held responsible for the Omagh bombing

Murphy, a builder and publican from Dundalk, Co Louth, and Daly, a bricklayer from Cullaville, Co Monaghan, along with Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt and Co Louth republican Liam Campbell were held responsible.

The men were ordered to pay £1.6m in damages.

McKevitt, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the Irish Republic for directing terrorism, and Campbell, who recently successfully fought extradition proceedings to Lithuania on arms smuggling charges, failed in their bids to overturn the Omagh civil judgment.

They are now seeking to have their case heard in the European Court of Human Rights.

Murphy and Daly successfully appealed but both men were ordered to face another trial. The retrial started in January and finished last month, with Mr Justice Gillen delivering his reserved judgment today, confirming the men were responsible.

The bombing killed people from a variety of different backgrounds including Protestants, Catholics, a Mormon teenager, five other teenagers, six children, a woman pregnant with twins and several tourists.

The nature of the bombing - described as Northern Ireland's worst terrorist attack - created a huge international outcry and added to the impetus of the peace process.

Neither defendant was in court for the judgment. Both men also declined to give evidence during the trial.

Mr Justice Gillen said the case against them, which was primarily based on mobile phone evidence, was "overwhelming".

Michael Gallagher (c), who lost his son, was among the relatives who sued

The judge said he had drawn a negative inference from their failure to provide any explanation in court.

"Given the strength and quality of the evidence, I have determined that both defendants were involved in assisting the preparation, planting and detonation of the bomb in circumstances where those involved in assisting those acts would be joint tortfeasors (individuals who committed a wrongful act injuring another person)," he said.

Representing the families, Lord Brennan QC said the bereaved relatives were determined that the damages would be paid.

"Enforcement will be pursued with vigour here and in other relevant jurisdiction," he said.

Solicitor for the families Matthew Jury said the Omagh bombers had not furthered any cause.

"It was a massacre of the innocent that left a scar on families, their community and their country that has not healed," he said.

"By bringing this civil action, their victims showed that they will not beintimidated and that justice will be done."

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Natalie Putt: Land Search For Missing Teen Ends

Police have called off a search of land in south Staffordshire over the disappearance of teenager Natalie Putt 10 years ago.

Specialist teams scoured private land off the Stourbridge Road in Wombourne after getting new information.

But West Midlands Police said nothing significant had been found in the operation.

Natalie disappeared from her home in Thornleigh, Lower Gornal, in September 2003.

A police compter-generated image of how Natalie might have looked in 2010

The young mother, who was aged 17 at the time of her disappearance, had given birth to a baby boy 11 weeks before.

Natalie's child, Rhys, continues to be cared for by relatives.

Superintendent Andy Parsons, from Dudley Police, said: "The missing persons investigation into Natalie's disappearance will always remain open and any new lines of inquiry will be investigated."

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Budget: 2013 Growth Forecast Is Cut In Half

George Osborne has unveiled tax breaks for beer drinkers, drivers and first time buyers as he admitted the economy is still struggling.

The Chancellor's Budget contained a string of moves designed to ease the cost-of-living, including a 1p cut in the price of beer and the cancellation of a planned fuel duty hike.

A £130bn mortgage guarantee scheme will help people without big deposits buy homes, with interest-free loans worth 20% of the value of a new build property also available.

And in what he called a Budget for "the aspiration nation", Mr Osborne said the income tax threshold will rise to £10,000 in 2014, a year earlier than planned.

The Chancellor also gave small businesses a boost by unveiling a new employment allowance which will save employers £2,000 on their National Insurance bills.

But he was forced to admit that the recovery was taking far longer than expected as he confirmed growth forecasts for this year have been cut in half to just 0.6%.

Ed Miliband called George Osborne a "downgraded Chancellor"

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility does expect Britain to avoid a triple-dip recession but public borrowing will be higher because of the floundering recovery.

It is now forecast to hit £114bn this year instead of £108bn before eventually falling to £42bn in 2017/18.

Driving home the problems facing Britain, figures released hours before the Budget showed the first rise in unemployment for a year - up 7,000 to 2.52m.

But despite growing calls to change course from his austerity regime, Mr Osborne insisted there could be no turning back.

"It is taking longer than anyone hoped but we must hold to the right track," he said.

Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed: "All he offers is more of the same - higher borrowing and lower growth - a more of the same Budget from a downgraded Chancellor.

"He is the wrong man in the wrong place at the worst possible time for the country."

The Chancellor leaving Number 11 Downing Street with his Budget

But Mr Osborne declared: "This is a Budget that doesn't duck our nation's problems. It confronts them head on. It is a Budget for an aspiration nation. It is a Budget for a Britain that wants to be prosperous, solvent and free."

He fleshed out plans for a further £2.5bn in Whitehall cuts over the next two years to fund capital spending projects.

And he confirmed plans to help working parents with tax-free childcare support and to introduce a flat rate pension by 2016.

The Capital Gains Tax holiday will also be extended and corporation tax cut further by 1% to 20% in April 2015.

But there will be anger at the extension of the 1% public sector pay cap to 2015/16, which came as civil servants staged a 24-hour strike.

There will also be further cuts in spending review for 2015/16, up from £10bn to £11.5bn.

The House of Commons was extremely rowdy as Mr Osborne delivered one of the most important speeches of his career.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls was singled out by the deputy speaker for barracking from Labour's front bench.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now predicts growth of 2.3% for 2015, 2.7% in 2016 and 2.8% in 2017.

Figures also show that the deficit has fallen from 11.2% of GDP in 2009/10 to 7.4% this year and is set to continue dropping until it reaches 2.2% in 2017/18.

A Twitpic shows George Osborne at work

But public sector net debt will rise from 75.9% of GDP this year to 79.2, 82.6, 85.1 and then 85.6% in the following years before falling to 84.8% in 2017/18.

Mr Osborne announced that the Bank of England's remit was being overhauled but that it will keep its inflation target of 2%.

Meanwhile, London's Evening Standard newspaper apologised for posting its front page with details of the Budget on Twitter ahead of the statement.

John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, criticised Mr Osborne for not going far enough to support business and boost growth.

"We are at an unprecedented moment in economic history, and the Government should be doing everything in its power to get the economy moving", he said.

But Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: "We applaud this Budget. The Chancellor has stuck to his guns and held his nerve - which is exactly what we wanted to see.

"Deficit reduction is not an optional policy, it is an absolute necessity, and he is right to reject the siren calls to abandon it."

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Winchester Prison: Inspectors Slam Conditions

Two severely disabled prisoners were locked up in a cell for nearly 24 hours a day and had not showered for months, an inspection has found.

The pair were jailed in the cell at HMP Winchester - designed for just one person - and relied on other prisoners to take them their meals, HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) found.

Staff were unaware that the two older and disabled prisoners could not use the shower on their landing as it was not adapted accordingly.

The men had a small window in their cell that was painted over so they had to choose between keeping out the cold or shutting out the light, the report added.

Elsewhere, one third of the 680 prisoners told inspectors illegal drugs were "easily available", while one in 10 developed a drug habit within the jail walls.

The category B prison, partly built in the 19th century, has deteriorated sharply and is now of serious concern, Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said.

"Until shortly before the inspection, HMP Winchester was neglected and drifting," Mr Hardwick said.

"There had been pockets of good practice and, although many staff did their best, their efforts were often haphazard, inconsistent and badly coordinated."

In a damning report, the inspectorate said that more than half of prisoners had felt unsafe at some time, while there was insufficient action to tackle violence.

Mr Hardwick said a new governor was appointed shortly before the inspection.

He said: "The new leadership was aware of many of the problems and we saw early signs of a determined effort to tackle them.

"But the prison is just at the start of the process of putting things right again, and it will be a long, hard task to do so."

National Offender Management Service chief executive Michael Spurr said: "As the chief inspector acknowledges, the new governor has begun to tackle the deficiencies and I am confident that these will be properly addressed and rectified."

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Brian Lynch: Prison Escape Charge For Killer

A convicted murderer is to appear in court accused of fleeing prison while on day release.

Brian Lynch, 44, who was arrested in Gorton, Manchester, has been charged with escaping from lawful custody.

A woman, 40, who was also at the Manchester address, was arrested on suspicion of harbouring an escaped prisoner.

Lynch is accused of fleeing from Preston city centre last Thursday afternoon while on a day trip from nearby HMP Kirkham.

He was jailed in 1988 for the killing of 21-year-old Chi Yeung Yip in Clayton, Manchester.

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Olympics Fiasco: G4S Profits Fall By A Third

Annual profits fell by a worse than expected 32% at G4S, the firm at the centre of last year's Olympics security fiasco.

Pre-tax profit for 2012 dropped to £175m from £257m the previous year as a result of a £70m loss on its contract to supply security personnel to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

The Armed Forces had to be called in to cover staff shortfalls when G4S admitted just ahead of the Games that it had failed to hire enough guards to cover its contract.

It had been obliged to provide 10,400 people but managed to fulfil 83% of its contracted shifts.

The failures led to chief operating officer David Taylor-Smith and Ian Horseman Sewell, who was head of global events, to quit their jobs while chief executive Nick Buckles remained in his post.

Mr Buckles told MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee in July that the staffing failure was a fiasco and a "humiliating shambles".

A report for G4S by auditors PwC found that monitoring and tracking of the security workforce was inadequate and that management failed to appreciate the scale and exact nature of the project.

The £70m loss on the contract, along with additional related costs of £18m, was taken as an exceptional charge in its 2012 accounts.

Despite the PR disaster over the Olympics, the group has shown signs of recovery in recent months, winning British government and commercial contracts, and has spoken of receiving government assurances that its Olympic failure would not hinder its chances of winning work in future.

Underlying revenue rose 8.1% in 2012 to £7.3bn, with improved organic growth of 7%. The group's emerging markets division performed strongly with revenue up 15%.

Its share price fell by 1.3% in early trading on Wednesday.

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Bionic Eye 'Enables Blind People To See'

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

A bionic eye has enabled blind people to read letters and simple words.

The implant converts images from an external camera into electronic signals that the brain can "see".

Tests on 21 patients with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disease that destroys light-receiving cells at the back of the eye, showed that three quarters were able to correctly identify single letters.

More than half were able to read four-letter words, according to results published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Before being fitted with the device Richard Barrett only had vague light perception in one eye.

Now he can locate objects and find his way around.

He said: "When I am indoors I can see where windows are. To go to a door you can scan and pick up where the door frame is.

"If you have a path and grass down one side, you can pick up the edge of the path. That's where the device comes into its own."

Lyndon da Cruz, consultant retinal surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, said the Argus II device could "restore some meaningful vision in patients that otherwise would have been left blind".

He told Sky News: "At the best end of it they can start to read small 5cm letters formed into words. This was a huge change in perception of what we thought this device could do."

The Argus II is currently the only approved retinal prosthesis. A camera mounted on a pair of glasses feeds pictures along a cable to an electronic chip resting against the retina inside the eye.

The chip stimulates the optic nerve, which carries signals to the visual processing centre of the brain, giving the wearer a highly pixellated black and white view of the world.

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No Smoking Day: Charity Launches 'Hijacking' App

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has pledged to hijack cigarette packs from today - No Smoking Day - by virtually transforming them in smokers' hands into items they could afford if they quit.

The charity is encouraging smokers to "swap fags for swag" by thinking about how much money they could save if they quit.

Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes a day could save £7 a day, £49 a week, £210 a month and £2,555 a year if they kicked the habit, the BHF said.

The charity has developed a new smartphone app, Blippar, which virtually transforms a cigarette pack into a puff of smoke, before revealing items they could afford with a week, month, or year's worth of smoking savings.

This year's BHF No Smoking Day campaign

Betty McBride, director of policy and communications at the BHF, said: "The tobacco giants are notoriously protective about their slick cigarette packaging - here's a bit of slick that does some good for once.

"We need to up our game if we are going to help people beat their addiction to tobacco by finding new ways to reach out to them."

The new app comes on BHF's 30th annual No Smoking Day. A survey conducted for the 2013 campaign found that 11% of smokers are desperate to kick the habit.

And 82% of 2,000 UK smokers surveyed had tried and failed to quit.

Around one in five people smoke, according to the charity, and the latest data from the World Health Organisation shows that smoking prevalence in Europe is higher than the rest of the world.

A separate poll, conducted on 2,000 ex and current smokers by Pru Health, found that the average smoker spends 11% of income on tobacco.

:: Smokers who want help in quitting are encouraged to visit wequit.co.uk or call 0800 434 6677

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E.On Boss: Energy Firm Profits Are 'Fair'

The boss of one of the 'big six' energy providers has told Sky News his company made a "fair profit" in 2012.

Tony Cocker, chief executive of E.On UK, was speaking after the company posted a 17% fall in annual profits to £235m.

Energy firms have been at pains to argue that they are not over-charging customers since inflation-busting bill increases were first announced ahead of winter.

Each has blamed higher wholesale prices and greater investment commitments for the rises.

E.On was the last of the major providers to hike its prices, having pledged not to raise them in 2012.

The company, which supplies five million homes, has estimated its profit margin on electricity and gas to domestic customers at 2.3% for 2012, or just under £27 on an average weighted dual fuel bill.

Mr Cocker said: "We worked hard to make sure that the choices we made were right for our customers and the efforts we made to freeze our prices and make our customer service better had a real and positive impact.

"As a result of the changes we have made, many of which were difficult and challenging, we were named by consumers and uSwitch as their 'customer satisfaction overall winner' for the first time.

"We still have a long way to go in terms of how we'd like our customers to view us, I'm heartened by the progress we've made by doing things differently."

The Government's Energy Bill aims to automatically ensure customers are on the cheapest possible tariff as the industry faces pressure to simplify its charges and bill structures.

Mr Cocker said E.On had already made big strides in simplifying bills and he refused to say whether it was inevitable that bills would rise in future though he did admit that the industry was making a "large investment in this country".

Last month, the chief executive of the energy regulator Ofgem warned consumers and businesses to prepare for higher prices as power plants close, foreign gas supplies shrink and increasing demand tightens the British energy market.

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Shark-Wrestler Grandad 'Disgusted' By Sacking

A grandfather who grappled with a shark on a busy beach has told of his disgust at being sacked from his job after footage of his feat went round the world.

Charity worker Paul Marshallsea, 62, said he and his wife Wendy had been on long-term sick leave with stress and were on holiday on their doctor's advice when the incident happened.

He told Sky's Dermot Murnaghan he was feeling better by the time of the incident: "We'd been there a few weeks and I did feel better.

"When I came back I went to the doctor and told him I was better. The day I came back was the day I was ready for work."

Mr Marshallsea, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was called a hero after he waded in to the surf and grabbed the 6ft shark by the tail amid fears it would attack paddling children.

A local news crew caught his exploits on camera and his story made headlines around the world and earned him praise from lifeguards.

But now Mr Marshallsea has lost his job with children's charity the Pant and Dowlais Boys & Girls Club. He had been signed off with work-related stress since last April.

The grandfather-of-one and his 56-year-old wife, who also worked for the charity and was off ill at the time, flew back to Britain to letters informing them they had been sacked.

He has now hit back saying he was "disgusted" by the way he has been treated. He said: "What am I going to do now? There's not much call for shark wrestlers in Merthyr Tydfil."

Mr Marshallsea claims that he should have received a pat on the back for his efforts and that he only took the holiday with his wife on the advice of his GP.

Mr Marshallsea worked as project co-ordinator at Dowlais Engine House, where the charity has a base, and his wife was a senior youth worker.

He had been featured on Sky News for his work with the charity and once met Prince Charles, who visited to find out about the project's work in the town.

The letter he received read: "Whilst unfit to work you were well enough to travel to Australia and, according to recent news footage of yourself in Queensland, you allegedly grabbed a shark by the tail and narrowly missed being bitten by quickly jumping out of the way, the photographs and footage appearing in newspapers and television broadcasts."

A follow-up letter added: "The breakdown of the trustees' confidence and trust in you and your ability to perform the role is so great that we find that dismissal is the only course of action we can recommend."

Mr Marshallsea said running the club became increasingly stressful as it gained in success and the couple were working up to seven days a week.

"We created a whip to hit our own backs. It grew so big and we didn't realise. There was no stopping it."

Sky News contacted the charity trustees and is awaiting their response.

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