Liam Campbell is an

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

from

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

. He was found liable under civil proceedings for the 1998

Omagh bombing The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA), a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group who op ...

, which killed 29 people. IRPWA graffiti

Family

His brother Sean died in December 1975, when a landmine he was preparing for an attack on the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

exploded prematurely. Another brother, Peter, served 14 years in prison for

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

offenses. Yet another brother, Michael, went on trial in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, accused of trying to purchase arms and explosives for the

Real IRA The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), was a Dissident republican, dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aimed to bring about a United Ireland. It was formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional Irish Republica ...

, was found guilty and sentenced to twelve years in jail, a conviction that was overturned with the defendant

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

upon the completion of a retrial in 2013, largely due to the defence's argument that Michael was the subject of

entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or an agent of the state induces a person to commit a crime that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent prov ...

, by

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

agents.

Paramilitary career

Liam Campbell first came to the attention of the British and Irish security forces in the early 1980s and became the subject of an exclusion order in 1983 barring him from entering

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Omagh bombing

Campbell was named by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

as one of the perpetrators of the 1998

in a ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

'' documentary. He never faced

criminal charges A criminal charge is a formal accusation made by a governmental authority (usually a public prosecutor or the police) asserting that somebody has committed a crime. A charging document, which contains one or more criminal charges or counts, can t ...

but was found liable for the bombing in a

civil trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or di ...

, along with

Michael McKevitt Michael McKevitt () (4 September 1949 – 2 January 2021) was an Irish republican and paramilitary leader. He was the Provisional Irish Republican Army's Quartermaster General. Due to the Provisional IRA's involvement in the Northern Ireland pe ...

Colm Murphy Colm Murphy (18 August 1952 – 18 April 2023) was an Irish republican who was the first person to be convicted in connection with the Omagh bombing, but whose conviction was overturned on appeal.

and Seamus Daly.The men sued by the Omagh families
''BBC News'', Monday, 8 June 2009. The case, brought by relatives of the 29 victims, resulted in an award of combined damages of over £1.5m. He was believed to be a member of the Real IRA army council during the bombing. The damages were never paid.

Imprisonment

In May 2004, Campbell was convicted by a court in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

for membership of the

and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. In May 2009, he was arrested following the issue of a

European Arrest Warrant The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is an arrest warrant valid throughout all member states of the European Union (EU). Once issued, it requires another member state to arrest and transfer a criminal suspect or sentenced person to the issuing stat ...

at the behest of the Lithuanian authorities, where he was wanted in connection with a gun running plot which saw his brother Michael arrested. Campbell remained in prison for four years and was released in 2013 following the decision of Belfast Recorders Court to deny Campbell's extradition to Lithuania. The court ruled that "[Campbell] was likely to be held in conditions which would be inhuman and degrading." In July 2021, a court in Ireland denied his appeal against extradition to Lithuania for several arms smuggling charges after nearly 12 years of legal battles. In October 2022, the Lithuanian court announced that Campbell was returning home after all charges against him were dropped due to a statute of limitations expiry.

References

Irish republicans Irish republicans imprisoned by non-jury courts Living people People from Dundalk Provisional Irish Republican Army members Real Irish Republican Army members Year of birth missing (living people) {{Ireland-paramilitary-bio-stub