The Omagh bomb case lawyer is to take legal action against Vladimir Putin for his alleged role in the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines jet over Ukraine.

London based Jason McCue made legal history when he took the world’s first ever civil proceedings against members of a terrorist organization – the Real IRA – on behalf of the families of those killed in the 1998 Omagh bombing.

McCue’s legal skills saw families of the Omagh victims awarded over $2million in damages after the civil case found Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly liable for the bombing, which killed 29 people.

Now he is preparing a multi-million pound legal action against Russian president Putin through the American courts for the shooting down of Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.

Lawyers from his firm have already traveled to Ukraine for discussions about how to bring the case.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that victims’ families will be invited to join the action.

A spokesman for McCue & Partners said in a statement: “There has been talk of civil suits against Malaysian Airlines, but those immediately responsible are not only the separatists who are alleged to have fired the rocket at Flight MH17, causing the death of hundreds of innocent victims, but those, be they states, individuals or other entities, who provided them with financial and material support and the means to do so.

“Our team is presently liaising and working with partners in Ukraine and the US on whether, apart from civil suits against the airline, legal action can be brought against the perpetrators on the victims’ behalf.”

The paper says the case against Putin could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds in potential damages and is likely to be brought through the US courts.

If held liable, Putin’s assets could be frozen.