The case against the teenager was abandoned because it relied on the Low Copy Number DNA, the forensic evidence that had questions thrown over it by Mr Justice Weir's devastating Omagh judgment.

The youth had been accused of assembling a firebomb on January 1, 2005 and possession of it on the same date.

He was 16 years old when he was charged later that year. Those charges were withdrawn by the Prosecution Service at Laganside Court in Belfast today.

The case had been on hold awaiting the outcome of Sean Hoey's trial for 29 murders in the Omagh case and associated acts of terrorism.

Hoey, a south Armagh electrician, was cleared in December by Mr Justice Weir. In his judgment he questioned the reliability of Low Copy Number DNA, which relies on small samples of forensic matter.

The UK allows Low Copy Number DNA to be used in court, but other countries, including the US, have banned it as admissible evidence.

Last month prosecutors tried to have the case against the youth delayed until a review of Low Copy Number DNA by the Home Office has been completed.

Judge Tom Burgess refused, citing the Omagh judgment as determining " the standing of such evidence in these courts".

Defence solicitor Peter Corrigan of Kevin Winters & Co said there had been questions all along about the reliability of the forensic evidence in the case against the teenager.

"The forensic evidence returned a mixed profile and the general forensic consensus is that mixed profiles are uninterpretible," he said.

"So it has to be asked: why continue with a prosecution and why wait until now to drop it?

"Recently there was a case in England in which a 16-year-old wasn't prosecuted because of Low Copy Number DNA.

"In this case, there was a prosecution because the defendant was from Strabane in Northern Ireland."