Colm Murphy, the only person who was ever convicted over the 1998 Omagh bombing atrocity, has been cleared for a second time of plotting to cause the attack.

Murphy, 57, from County Armagh, left the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today after three judges said there was no evidence to convict him.

Murphy was initially found guilty of conspiracy to cause the Real IRA bombng in 2002 but was later cleared on appeal in 2005. The builder had been on bail since 2005.

Prosecutors had claimed that he lent two cell phones to a man who was involved in driving the car bomb from Castleblayney, County Monaghan, to Omagh where it exploded killing 29 people on August 15.

The blast was indiscrimate in the carnage it caused on a sunny day in the market town. Protesants and Catholics, a Mormon, nine children, a woman pregnant with twins, two Spanish tourists, and visitors from the Republic of Ireland were all killed.

Murphy is now the second man to be acquitted. In December 2007, electrician Sean Hoey, from South Armagh, was cleared of all charges related to the bombing.