RUC murder report ‘should mean light is shone upon Irish authorities’

A prominent Troubles victims campaigner has declared that this week’s report by the Police Ombudsman into the murder of a young RUC constable should lead to light being shone on the work of An Garda Siochana.
An IRA team with a ‘barrack buster’ mortar kit in south Armagh, 1989An IRA team with a ‘barrack buster’ mortar kit in south Armagh, 1989
An IRA team with a ‘barrack buster’ mortar kit in south Armagh, 1989

The ombudsman’s report into the 1992 Newry horizontal mortar attack which killed officer Colleen McMurray (and wounded Paul Slaine) found there had been shortcomings in the RUC’s investigation into the IRA attack, but that police could not have predicted the explosion.

Given the nature of the NI Police Ombudsman’s remit, the focus of the report was all on the activities of the RUC.

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But as the report makes clear, the 1992 murder was a cross-border enterprise, involving a South Down unit and one in Dundalk.

It found that members in Co Louth had helped to pioneer a new kind of detonator technology, which then spread to other paramilitary cells.

It also states that the car in which the mortar had been hidden was stolen from Dundalk – as was the one used in an earlier attack on Warrenpoint.

Yesterday ex-Special Branch inspector Dr William Matchett told the News Letter the report leaves many questions about the Gardai’s actions unaddressed.

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Now Kenny Donaldson, spokesman for the umbrella group Innocent Victims United, said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the McMurray and Slaine families on yet another difficult day as they wrestle with the findings of the ombudsman’s report.

“It is clear that there are issues for not only the northern authorities to addresss but also the southern authorities given the fact that the atrocity was a dual effort between south down and Louth Provisional IRA personnel.

“Whilst the remit of the Ombudsman’s investigation was purely upon policing and intelligence agencies north of the border, there is a need for a deeper examination of what occurred south of the border in this tragic case.

“Justice, truth, and accountability must be served for the families impacted, like all others, and a renewed effort made to apprehend the real culprits – the PIRA.”

More from this reporter:

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Ben Lowry