Loughinisland ruling: Ex-officers to re-examine previous PONI reports after court judgment

Former police officers have given a guarded welcome to Thursday’s Court of Appeal ruling on the 2016 Loughinisland report compiled by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI).
By Mark Rainey
Published 18th Jun 2020, 18:06 BST
The scene at The Heights bar in Loughinisland the morning after the UVF murder of six Catholic men on the premises in June 1994The scene at The Heights bar in Loughinisland the morning after the UVF murder of six Catholic men on the premises in June 1994
The scene at The Heights bar in Loughinisland the morning after the UVF murder of six Catholic men on the premises in June 1994

Although the court did not quash the ombudsman’s public statement, the determination that Dr Michael Maguire had “overstepped the mark” with his criminal ‘collusion’ findings means the credibility of the report has diminished considerably, the NI Retired Police Officers’ Association (NIRPOA) has said.

The court also found that the “emphatic conclusions” reached by the ombudsman in examining the UVF murder of six Catholic men at The Heights bar in June 1994 “exceed his powers”.

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A spokesman for the NIRPOA said: “On the first reading of the judgment we find that our long-standing complaint against the Police Ombudsman’s Office has been vindicated. Not only in this report, but we would point to other reports and ask, in the words of the Court of Appeal judge, was there a massive “overstepping of the mark” in terms of the ombudsman’s office taking unto itself this capacity to deliver determinations or findings?

Victims of the 1994 Loughinisland atrocity. Top: (left to right) Patsy O'Hare, Adrian Rogan and Barney Green. Bottom (left to right) Eamonn Byrne, Dan McGreanor and Malcolm JenkinsonVictims of the 1994 Loughinisland atrocity. Top: (left to right) Patsy O'Hare, Adrian Rogan and Barney Green. Bottom (left to right) Eamonn Byrne, Dan McGreanor and Malcolm Jenkinson
Victims of the 1994 Loughinisland atrocity. Top: (left to right) Patsy O'Hare, Adrian Rogan and Barney Green. Bottom (left to right) Eamonn Byrne, Dan McGreanor and Malcolm Jenkinson

“However, we want the opportunity to study the full judgment in detail as we think there are massive implications for the office of the police ombudsman – particularly in the way that reports have been produced in the past, and we are looking in detail at the withholding of crucial evidence from the [2016] report that we would say misled, not only the media and the public, but in particular Loughinisland families themselves.”

The NIRPOA said it based that observation on a letter sent from PONI to the PPS in 2015, in which the ombudsman accepted he had not “identified evidence that would support submission of a file for direction to the PPS in relation to a specific, identifiable officer”. However, Dr Maguire told the PPS his file revealed “significant concerns in respect of disciplinary and/or corporate matters for the RUC” which he said would be detailed in the [2016] public statement (PS).

Delivering yesterday’s judgment, Sir Declan Morgan said it is “striking that nowhere in the PS did the Ombudsman state that he had determined that the report ... did not indicate that a criminal offence may have been committed by a member of the police force”.

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The NIRPOA spokesman said: “Were the families, the media or the public informed that there wasn’t so much as a shred of evidence against any police officer ... that would have allowed the police ombudsman to consider arresting that officer or investigating them in relation to any criminal offence, or indeed any police disciplinary action?

“The key question now is, why was the key piece of information, which the court has identified, withheld from both the executive summary and the [2016] report itself?”

A PONI spokesman said: “We are considering the judgment.”