THE vehicle which carried the Omagh bomb to the town on August 15, 1998 was first caught on CCTV by the Campsie Filling Station and could have travelled past the courthouse before finally parking at Market Street.
Key eye-witnesses have described seeing what is believed to have been the maroon-coloured Vauxhall Cavalier in the minutes after it arrived in the town around an hour before the 500llb exploded, killing 31 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.
Evidence at the Omagh Bombing Inquiry resumed today in Belfast.
The inquiry is investigating whether the atrocity could have been prevented.
Last year, personal testimonies were taken from those bereaved as a result, those who were injured and members of the emergency services.
Among those whose statements from the time were read out at the Inquiry were father and son, Stephen and George Martin.
They ran CA Anderson and were leaving at around 2.20pm to spend the afternoon riding motorbikes.
Mr Martin senior said that as they were emerging from the premises at Campsie Road, they saw the Cavalier moving slowly along Market Street towards the traffic lights.
Both their vehicle and the Cavalier were close to the El Paso Bar when Mr Martin noticed the driver of the vehicle glancing over and looking at him.
He said that the lights turned green and, as the Cavalier was moving slowly, he was feeling ‘some frustration’ as he wanted to get through the lights.
Another eye-witness was Robert Bridge from Enniskillen who was going on a shopping trip with his wife to Omagh.
He said that as he was travelling up Church Street towards the Sacred Heart Church he noticed a maroon Cavalier in front of his car.
He said that it then travelled down George’s Street and High Street before turning left down Bridge Street and onto Drumragh Avenue.
Parking space
Mr Bridge said it was his belief that, as the vehicle travelling through Omagh, it was looking for a parking space.
Eventually, he turned left at the traffic lights, while the Cavalier, turned right up into Market Street.
Ruth Buchanan was parked on Market Street when she noticed the parking in front of her.
She said that two men had got out of the vehicle, and walked down Market Street before turning right onto the Dublin Road.
The inquiry was given details of mobile phone contact between the scout car and the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier as the two vehicles made their way to Omagh.
Both vehicles were first picked up by cell-site analysis from a mast in the area of Castleblayney in Co Monaghan.
They then moved in a northly direction, with further analysis suggesting that the vehicles were in the Emyvale area.
Analysis
Cell-site analysis from the mobile phones showed that they utilised a mast in the vicinity of the then Poundhill shop in Aughnacloy at 1.29pm.
Masts based at Pigeon Top and the then Omagh College of Further Education then picked up calls from mobile phones believed to have been used by those in the scout car and bomb car and others involved in the bomb plot at 1.57pm, 2.10pm, 2.14pm and 2.19pm.
The inquiry was told that CCTV footage at the permanent vehicle checkpoint in Aughnacloy was examined, but that around eight minutes from the time that the scout car and the Cavalier carrying the bomb might have cross was missing because the video was ‘paused.’
As a result, there is no way of knowing whether the two vehicles had crossed the border at the checkpoint or used another alternative route.
The inquiry was told there were a number of other options which may have been used.