Editorial: ​It is a scandal - and a failure of Stormont - that the ombudsman Marie Anderson is back judging the police after probe into potential misconduct

​​It is a disgrace that the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland is back at her desk.

It is also a major failure of Stormont that Marie Anderson is in office. Some unionist politicians were scathing about this scandal, but there should have been more of a collective uproar about it.

In a normal political environment, the Alliance Party and nationalist parties would be outraged too, but clearly they will not make a difficulty over Ms Anderson’s return.

This month, prosecutors said that she would not face charges arising out of a police probe into potential misconduct, after their "careful" consideration of evidence. The investigation involved an incident at Ms Anderson's Co Down home in 2023.

Ordinarily, for someone in a regular job, this might indeed be the end of the matter. But Ms Anderson is not in a regular job: she has oversight of police. She is not afraid to issue scathing judgements over the alleged shortcomings of police officers past and present. In the case of the RUC, she has issued damning verdicts on officers from one of the most respected police forces of the modern era, often on officers who have vastly more experience of policing than she does.

It should be obvious to political leaders such as Naomi Long, the justice minister, that someone in that position must command the full respect of the policing world. Yet there was a suggestion that Ms Anderson sought to obstruct justice. There was a seemingly undisputed suggestion that officers could not gain access to her home, so they had to return to do.

Why did the investigation into these allegations need external police forces? Why did they take so long? Did the investigating officers recommend prosecution? If she did not behave illegally, did she behave unprofessionally?

She has said she now wants to finish reports. If no-one else will say that these reports are thus discredited, then unionist parties, the Tories and ex police should.