High-profile Irish republican Seamus Daly has been remanded in custody charged with murdering 29 people in the Omagh bombing.

The 43-year-old, who has already been successfully sued over the 1998 terror attack, denied the charges at Dungannon magistrates’ court on Thursday night.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s serious crime branch arrested Mr Daly — originally from Cullaville, Co Monaghan in the Irish Republic, but now living in Jonesborough, Co Armagh — on Monday.

He was charged with 29 counts of murder and two charges linked to the August 15 1998 explosion that saw a Real IRA car bomb tear through the market town on a Saturday afternoon.

He also faces two counts linked to an attempted explosion in Lisburn in April 1998.

Mr Daly was found liable with three other men for the bombing in a landmark civil case brought by relatives of the victims five years ago.

Belfast High Court ordered the four to pay £1.6 million to the bereaved families — money they are still pursuing.

Mr Daly denied involvement but was unsuccessful in his appeal.

No-one has been successfully convicted of the bombing in a criminal court.

In 2007, Jonesborough electrician Sean Hoey was found not guilty of the bombing following a 56 day trial at Belfast Crown Court.

Mr Justice Weir, presiding, condemned the standard of police forensics evidence in the case and said officers were guilty of a “deliberate and calculated deception.”

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed at Omagh, said the victims’ families had maintained pressure on the authorities over the case.

He told the BBC Today programme: “It has been a long, difficult struggle.

“We have put the police and both the British and Irish governments under tremendous pressure and we continue to do that and we don’t apologise for it.

“It is something that, as victims, you have a certain resilience.

“We think of the people that we lost — in our case, our only son Aiden — and that gives us the strength to carry on.”