Editorial: It is a scandal that the police ombudsman is apparently linked to an investigation over an incident, yet is issuing reports in judgement of police

​It is a scandal. It is a farce. Yet it is seemingly being allowed to go on and on.

​Not only is the RUC, an outstanding force led by policing stars of the calibre of the late Sir John Hermon and Blair Wallace (this web version of this article links here to Dean Godson’s 3,000 word tribute to the latter: ‘Blair Wallace was the last of the big beast RUC officers who heroically served at the height of the Troubles’), adjudicated on by people in a Police Ombudsman's office that rarely has the investigative expertise of the best of the old NI police.

Not only are they adjudicated on, out of context, decades later, amid hundreds of allegations against the RUC, who are the target of republican smear efforts.

But the current police ombudsman is back in post, issuing verdicts of the utmost importance when so much has simply not been explained about an incident that reportedly happened at her property. Yesterday, Marie Anderson upheld as “legitimate and justified” complaints from the family of John O'Hara about the investigation into his appalling 1991 loyalist murder. She said the “inadequacy” of the then RUC murder investigation meant it failed to meet the legal obligation under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Yet more than 18 months on, there is still no clarity over the reported incident. The ombudsman is innocent of wrongdoing unless proven otherwise. Yet police say they could not get access to the property – why? Why are two police forces still investigating it? Was there body cam footage? If so, has the justice minister been appraised of the basic facts? Is the secretary of state, Hilary Benn aware too?

What is the Policing Board doing? Why are unionists not demanding ombudsman reports be set aside until this is resolved? What is the Police Federation saying?

Yet Ms Anderson continues to judge the RUC. Incidentally she cites the ECHR. So too did the Irish yesterday as they scolded a pliant Mr Benn on legacy.