Liam Campbell is anIrish republican fromDundalk,County Louth. He was found liable under civil proceedings for the 1998Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people.
His brother Sean died in December 1975, when a landmine he was preparing for an attack on theBritish Army exploded prematurely. Another brother, Peter, served 14 years in prison forProvisional Irish Republican Army offenses. Yet another brother, Michael, went on trial inVilnius,Lithuania, accused of trying to purchase arms and explosives for theReal IRA,[1] was found guilty and sentenced to twelve years in jail, a conviction that was overturned with the defendantacquitted upon the completion of a retrial in 2013, largely due to the defence's argument that Michael was the subject ofentrapment, byMI5 agents.[2][3][4]
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 enteringNorthern Ireland.[5][6]
Campbell was named by theBBC as one of the perpetrators of the 1998Omagh bombing in aPanorama documentary.[6] He never facedcriminal charges but was found liable for the bombing in acivil trial, along withMichael McKevitt,Colm Murphy andSeamus Daly.[7] The case, brought by relatives of the 29 victims, resulted in an award of combined damages of over £1.5m.[8] He was believed to be a member of the Real IRA army council during the bombing.[9]The damages were never paid.
In May 2004, Campbell was convicted by a court in theRepublic of Ireland for membership of theReal IRA and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.[10] In May 2009, he was arrested following the issue of aEuropean Arrest Warrant 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."[11][12] 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.[13] 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.[14]
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