A man accused of murdering 29 people in the 1998 Omagh bombing has been found not guilty today.
Michael Gallagher (centre), spokesman for the Omagh families, who lost his son Aidan in the Omagh bomb attack, arrives with other family members at Belfast High Court. PA
Sean Hoey (38) from Jonesborough, Co Armagh, had denied 56 charges, including the murders of 29 people, relating to Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocity.
The bomb attack that devastated the Co Tyrone town was carried out by the Real IRA.
His trial at Belfast Crown Court lasted for 56 days and ended in January.
Mr Justice Weir delivered his verdict today before relatives of those killed in the August 1998 attack.
The prosecution case against Mr Hoey hinged on DNA evidence, specifically a type called low copy DNA, a relatively new and sensitive form of testing. This was challenged by his defence team, and during the hearing experts differed on how reliable they believed it to be.
The defence also challenged the integrity of some of the police and forensic witnesses, claiming that their evidence had been beefed up. Mr Hoey did not go into the witness box.
Hoey was also cleared of a series of other charges linked to a number of bomb and murder attacks on police and military installations across Northern Ireland in the run-up to the Omagh atrocity.
Hoey, who has been in custody for the last four years, will now be home before Christmas and his acquittal means that nobody in Northern Ireland has yet been convicted of carrying out the single worst terrorist atrocity in more than 30 years of violence.
Mr Justice Weir took just over an hour and a quarter to deliver his verdict which came at the end of a 36-day trial which finished last January.
He was highly critical of the forensic evidence presented by the prosecution. But he was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that fibres found in glue used to assemble power units could be linked to the accused or to establish, as the Crown had claimed, common authorship that the one person was involved.
The judge was also highly critical of the process of bagging, labelling and recording of exhibits and hit out at the "slapdash approach" and "cavalier disregard" the police and some forensic experts had for the integrity of forensic items.
The judge claimed that two police officers had told untruths in a deliberate attempt to beef up statements and said there had been a deliberate and calculated deception which made it impossible for him to accept their evidence.
Detectives ran up a massive bill of £16 million as they scoured the world for the expertise they hoped would nail the Omagh bombers.
During the investigation Nasa scientists, FBI specialists and European manufacturers were all contacted to try to get evidence that would secure convictions.
About £1 million was spent on forensics during the investigation, police disclosed. This was added to staff costs which ran to around £15 million.