Editorial: ​A rare example of success in a legacy court case

​In this column yesterday we highlighted the central role played by the courts in perpetuating the legacy scandal.

​In ruling after ruling, judges have cited law such as Article Two of the European Convention on Human Rights to justify directions that worsen the imbalance in how the past is investigated.

There is often criticism when these rulings come out, such as Mr Justice Humphreys – the judge who recently ordered that one Troubles murder get special treatment, that of Sean Brown – this week ruling that the SAS used undue force in the case of the Clonoe IRA murder gang. But then there was uproar when the Supreme Court set in motion damages for Gerry Adams and in other grotesque findings and often little changes.

Now a judge has found that the ombudsman has over-stepped her remit in issuing findings of ‘collusive behaviour’. We have been following that case for a long while. While the judgement is welcome, it is striking what ‘success’ in a legacy case in NI looks like. Success, which is rare, is only ever the taming of the wilder excesses of the anti state imbalance in Troubles investigations.

Mr Justice McCloskey had, as far back as 2017, issued a rare and scathing ruling on ombudsman findings of RUC collusion in the Loughinisland case, yet – incredibly – felt he had to step aside after complaints that he previously represented police officers in a case he could barely remember. His excellent ruling in effect evaporated after a tortuous legal process which retired RUC officers partly won, but nonetheless had to fund – another disgrace given the endless legal aid doled out to litigants who take cases against the security forces.

Meanwhile the police ombudsman is back in post with us having no information on an investigation seemingly linked to an incident at an address linked to her, in which officers were – apparently – denied entry.