Bobby Storey funeral: ‘PSNI chief may have to quit – how could police intelligence NOT have known about scale of the event?’

A DUP MP has questioned how PSNI intelligence could not have known about the scale of the planned funeral for Bobby Storey, adding that the Chief Constable may ultimately have to quit over the affair.
Aerial image of the route to Milltown lined with black-and-white mournersAerial image of the route to Milltown lined with black-and-white mourners
Aerial image of the route to Milltown lined with black-and-white mourners

Ian Paisley, MP for North Antrim, said today that Simon Byrne’s position as head of the force would become “untenable” if evidence emerges of police “acquiescing” to the enormous funeral on June 30.

An Alliance member of the Policing Board meanwhile told the News Letter that he does not see grounds for the police chief to be forced into quitting at the present time.

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Mr Paisley made his remarks on the Nolan Show today, saying that he has put his points directly to the Chief Constable in the form of a letter.

Vast crowds came out to pay their respects to ex-IRA intelligence chief Mr Storey during his funeral, with the News Letter estimating that several thousand people at least were involved as spectators.

The roughly mile-long route from St Agnes’ Chapel (which the BBC said had about 120 people inside for the funeral mass) to Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast was lined by ranks of mourners in uniform white-and-black attire, with further bystanders looking on from behind them.

Milltown Cemetery was then packed with mourners who heard addresses from Sinn Fein leaders, before the coffin was quietly transported to Roselawn for cremation.

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The PSNI has already acknowledged that on the day officers had “implemented a temporary road closure due to public safety concerns”.

Mr Paisley said today that an “entire part of Belfast” had been effectively shut down for “an organised quasi-state funeral”.

He said: “If the police knew nothing about that, what does it say about the police’s intelligence? And if they did know about it, what assurances did they accept from Sinn Fein?

“If the police played any part in acquiescing with that, or abdicating their responsibility in policing a part of our city, then his position would be untenable. I’ve said that to him in writing.

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“He’s already said none of that has occurred, but we want to see the assurances and the evidence of that.”

Alliance Policing Board member John Blair on the other hand told the News Letter: “All I can really say is in the short term is probably that I don’t see this immediately as a resigning matter.”

He said “careful consideration” is needed, not “knee jerk reactions”.

He said the police will “undoubtedly” prepare a report for the Policing Board.

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The PSNI said it had received a letter from Mr Paisley and it “will be formally responded to in due course... our investigation into any suspected breaches of the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) Regulations NI 2020 at the funeral continues.”

Previously, Assistance Chief Constable Alan Todd has said officers “engaged with the organisers on the basis of no promises and no surprises, in order that they understood their obligations and to seek assurances in respect of public safety”. Contradicting claims from SF president Mary Lou McDonald, headded that the PSNI “were not involved in the planning of this funeral and did not approve any plan for the funeral”.

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