“Tony Blair told us he would leave no stone unturned to find those responsible for the Omagh bomb. But it was left to the families to pick up every stone and bring it to the High Court.”

The words of Victor Barker, father of 12-year-old victim James, echo how the successful civil action may relieve the families of some victims of an emotional burden made up of many stones of grief and anger.

Family members of six of the 29 people and two unborn babies who died travelled from Omagh to Belfast in a coach yesterday morning to hear the outcome of their unprecedented eight-year challenge.

There was a sense of occasion at the High Court in Belfast as the families took their seats in the ornate courtroom. The press benches were packed with journalists from around the UK. They were anticipating a major story, but their ardour was dampened as the 90 minutes it took Mr Justice Morgan to read his judgment ticked slowly by.

Wearing a salmon-pink jacket under his robes, the future Lord Chief Justice dealt in minute detail with technical matters such as the mobile phone traffic between those involved in planting the bomb.

It was around 12.55pm and 128 pages into his judgment when he began to run through the outcome of the actions.

As he described Michael McKevitt as having had "a significant leadership role" in RIRA, many of the relatives began to smile, and tears started again for others.

The personal cost to each of the claimants of losing a loved one was described, and the amount of damages revealed.

They filed out and seemed to drift in the main thoroughfare of the court. Some had red eyes, some hugged each other, a few laughed. They were gathered up for discussions with their solicitors in a tiny room. Then they resurfaced to talk about a bitter-sweet day for all of them.