Editorial: ​It is outrageous that the police ombudsman has not been suspended, given her hesitancy in doing the right thing and stepping aside

​There are several reasons to query the police ombudsman’s judgement but Tuesday was a glaring example.

After belatedly stepping aside, Marie Anderson said: ​“Although I had decided to retire in December ... which would have allowed me to fulfil my commitments to delivering ... investigations to ... bereaved families, it has become increasingly clear that current commentary is detracting from ... that work.”

She is citing “bereaved families” as a reason for her staying in post during an inexplicably long investigation into an incident that is linked to her home. This is using the emotive and controversial field of legacy to justify staying in office, when the nature of complaints against the police during the Troubles means that – naturally – such families are a particular cohort of the dead. But there are other, larger, cohorts: victims of terror, most of them victims of republicans, who feel they are getting far fewer answers than victims of the state. So it was inappropriate to cite families.

Then Ms Anderson blamed “commentary” for detracting from her work. Does she not understand the gravity of the investigation? Perhaps everyone is under a misapprehension as to that probe, but if so the authorities have had almost two years to correct perceptions. The various police forces, the Justice ministry and the ombudsman’s office itself have refused to divulge more information about an incident in which police were said – incredibly – to have been refused access to the property.

The investigation into the incident linked to Ms Anderson’s home must take its course free of external influence, but it is fair to observe meanwhile that Ms Anderson should have stepped aside long ago pending an outcome.

Now that a file has been sent to prosecutors about possible perverting the course of justice, it is all the more outrageous that the ombudsman has been sitting in judgement on legacy police complaints.