Omagh victim exhumed in protest at IRA graves

The body of a young boy killed in the Omagh bombing has been exhumed from his grave in the Irish Republic in preparation for reburial in England.

The parents of 12-year-old James Barker are understood to have moved him from the cemetery in Buncrana, Co Donegal, where he was buried 18 months ago, because they do not want him to stay in a graveyard which contains IRA members. They are also unhappy that nobody has been brought to justice for the blast carried out by the Real IRA in August 1998, killing 29 people.

His mother, Donna Marie, told Irish radio she had written to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams asking him to take action and had not received a "positive" response.

Mrs Barker said she knew she had "done the right thing" when she saw James's coffin and was certain he was going to a "happier place". The body was taken in a hearse containing James's favourite teddies to Belfast Airport, from where it was to be flown to England. He will be reburied near his old school, close to the Surrey village of Ottershaw, on Saturday.