Ex-Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson became 'judge, jury and executioner' on reports into RUC

The conduct of former Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson was “shameful” and a court ruling on some of her reports was a “withering indictment” on her, the Ulster Unionist leader has told the Assembly.

Jon Burrows also said that “we have turned the microscope the wrong way round” on the legacy of the Troubles with an “endless” focus on the forces of law and order, rather than republican and loyalist terror groups.

placeholder image — A court judgement on reports by the former Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson is a "withering indictment" on her, an MLA has said.

The comments come after the High Court ruled that ombudsman reports which found “collusive behaviour” by RUC officers in a series of loyalist murders must include a notice about the watchdog exceeding its legal powers.

Mr Justice Scoffield said the public statements should not be formally quashed or completely withdrawn from publication – but held a further form of words was required to reflect previous rulings that Marie Anderson acted ultra vires by reaching conclusions which amounted to determination of misconduct.

The matter was debated in Stormont on Tuesday after the Ulster Unionist Party tabled a matter of the day, and its leader told MLAs that “history is being rewritten in front of our very eyes”.

Mr Burrows said Monday’s judgment was “a withering indictment on the office of Police Ombudsman and the last office holder, Ms Marie Anderson, in terms of her competence, her integrity, and her fairness”.

“The job of the Ombudsman is to investigate, not adjudicate. It is to look at a complaint or an allegation and send a file of evidence to the PPS. But oh no, not Ms Anderson, and not when it comes to how we treat the men and women of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

“The Ombudsman became the judge, the jury, and the executioner. Despite sending files of evidence, and I call it evidence in inverted commas, the PPS consistently said there was nothing to see here. But yet the Ombudsman still found a definitive judgment of guilt, branding the men and women of the Royal Ulster Constabulary as involved in collusive behaviour. Yesterday, the judge said she acted beyond her powers”, he said.

The UUP leader also hit out at republicans, who he said held kangaroo courts, left people naked on the border with a bag over their head, tarred and feathered women, and told people they couldn't report rapes and sexual assaults.

It was not the security services who had done this, Mr Burrows said, but the provisional IRA.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said there had been collusion involving “sections” of the state forces – and the small number prosecuted “all ended up in jail for a very short period of time”.

DUP MLA Keith Buchanan said the Ombudsman’s office has become a “vehicle… for the rewriting of the Troubles”.

“It was not, and is not, the role of the Police Ombudsman to brand former police officers as being guilty of collusion or collusive behaviours, or any politically conceived offence, without those officers being afforded proper due process.

“It should not be the case that the ombudsman, or the coroner’s service, or whoever else, can make sweeping allegations of misconduct against those who stood in the gap against the brutal terrorist campaign, all the while ignoring the context of that period, all the while ignoring the immense operational and resourcing challenges that RUC were up against on a daily basis”, the Mid Ulster MLA said.

Alliance MLA Nuala McAllister said the judgment “was not about whether collusion existed at all during the troubles, because if you believe that it didn't, then you do need a reality check”.

The North Belfast MLA added that it is “perfectly acceptable and right to say that the Ombudsman's office must act within their powers”.