Retired RUC officers hint at possible legal suit over ombudsman ‘collusive behaviours’ report

The NI Retired Police Officers’ Association said that the report – which held a magnifying glass up to the actions of the South Belfast UDA from 1990 to 1998 – is helping “the myth of collusion” to bed into the public consciousness.

The report, published yesterday, sought to examine a number of alleged failings of the RUC in relation to eight specific attacks, which claimed 11 lives in all (the biggest one being the Sean Graham bookies massacre, where five victims were killed at once).

Like many ombudsman reports before it, its findings castigate the RUC of the 1990s for a host of different acts, some of which were deemed “collusive behaviour”.

The retired police association released a statement to the News Letter saying the ombudsmans’ findings serve “to perpetuate the myth of collusion that has been espoused by PONI on previous occasions, but never evidenced to any independent and impartially acceptable standard”.

It adds: “We believe that this report is a grievous defamation of the RUC George Cross and Special Branch in particular and it needs to be rigorously challenged.

“In that respect the association will be considering its options to do hold the Ombudsman legally accountable for the allegations made.”

SO WHAT WERE THE OMBUDSMAN’S FINDINGS?

Ombudsman Marie Anderson wrote in her report that she had found “legitimate and justified” concerns over “inadequate forensic, suspect, and arrest strategies, failures to adequately test and probe evidence, and a failed identification parade” when it came to pursuing the south Belfast UDA.

Whilst a previous court judgement means the ombudsman is effectively barred from finding “collusion” (because that would mean accusing officers of a criminal offence), she is able to make findings of “collusive behaviour”.

She found 10 specific things which counted as “collusive behaviour”, including:

l> Record-keeping failures;

l> Desctruction of material about “covert investigatory measures” against the UDA;

l> A failure to warn two victims of intelligence indicating a looming threat against them;

l> A “failure of police to exploit all evidential opportunities, for example the failure to recover significant evidential material used in the attack at Sean Graham Bookmakers and to make early arrests”;

l> And “the continued, unjustifiable use by Special Branch of informant(s) involved in serious criminality, including murder”.

l> At the same time she said there was “no evidence” that police had intelligence which could have prevented any of the attacks the ombudsman had looked at.

l> In addition, there was “no evidence” that “informants were protected from arrest and conviction”.

OVER 70 INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED:

The association’s comments were put to the ombudsman’s office, which responded as follows: “It is simply wrong to suggest that the Police Ombudsman’s conclusions are not based on an independent and objective assessment.

“This investigation reviewed more than 5,000 pieces of RUC intelligence about the attacks and related matters, and more than 70 interviews with former officers and other witnesses.

“The Police Ombudsman’s detailed consideration of the evidence and all information available to her, and the context and standards which applied at the time, is set out across more than 340 pages of her public statement.

“Mrs Anderson acknowledges the challenges which police faced at a turbulent time in our history, but demonstrates her significant concerns about specific aspects of actions by police.”

It concludes by saying that the ombudsman is “willing to engage further” with the association, “where appropriate”.

More from this reporter:

Click here – WATCH: Unionists rally to defend RUC amid fresh ‘collusive’ findings against it

Click here – RUC ‘collusive’ findings: WATCH as DUP man denounces IRA while speaker Alex Maskey tries to rein him in for ‘going off-topic’

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