[1] While awaiting a retrial on criminal charges, Murphy was found liable for the bombing in a civil trial, along with Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell and Seamus Daly.
[3] Born in Belleeks, County Armagh,[4] on 18 August 1952,[5] Murphy was an active Irish republican paramilitary from his late teens.
In March 1972, he was arrested in Dundalk regarding an assault, and was sentenced to two years in prison after the Garda Síochána found a loaded revolver in his car.
[6] In July 1983, Murphy was arrested in the US, after attempting to buy a consignment of M60 machine guns to be shipped to Ireland for use by the Irish National Liberation Army.
[7][8] On 10 October 2000, the BBC television show Panorama named Murphy as one of four people connected with the Omagh bombing, along with Seamus Daly and Liam Campbell.
One witness, Murphy's second cousin, retracted his evidence and the judge called the conduct of two detectives outrageous, saying they had persistently lied under cross-examination.
[2][19] On 7 July 2011, in Belfast High Court, Lord Justice Malachy Higgins directed a retrial of the civil claims against Murphy.