Five former officers from the RUC and PSNI have applied for anonymity in the Omagh Bombing Inquiry. The inquiry resumes in September. Procedural hearings took place over two days in Belfast. Legal representatives from the Government, agencies, and families of the bereaved attended.

Three officers seek anonymity from both the public and core participants, including bereaved families. The other two request protection only from the public. Two of the officers served in Special Branch. Three served in CID.

A Government application seeks anonymity for a senior GCHQ official acting as a corporate witness.

Hearings referenced attacks on police over the past 25 years. Constable Ronan Kerr died in a car bomb under his vehicle outside his home in Highfields, Omagh, in 2011. He had joined the PSNI in 2010. Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell survived an attempted murder at Youth Sport in Omagh in 2023. A placard naming Caldwell appeared on a bonfire in Derry last year.

Counsel for the PSNI noted a continuing threat to Caldwell after his shooting and retirement. The inquiry will assess if risks to applicants qualify as real and immediate, beyond trivial or fanciful, involving potential loss of life.