Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson: Former PSNI officer calls for clarity about ongoing criminal investigation

The investigation began after police were called to a Holywood address linked to Ms Anderson in September 2023, after a report of an alleged domestic incident.

The PSNI said then they “were unable to gain access to the address and following contact, a man aged 63 was arrested for common assault and interviewed at Musgrave station [on September 24]”.

A file was subsequently sent to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) and the man accepted a caution for common assault a year later – in September 2024.

From the start, the PSNI asked West Midlands Police to examine aspects of the case to avoid conflict of interest.

In June 2024 – nine months after the incident – the assembly was told Ms Anderson (pictured) was on sick leave. A month later senior PSNI officers acknowledged rising public speculation about the live investigation, but said reasons beyond their control were causing delays.

On Monday Ms Anderson said she had returned to her job.

This week, both the PSNI and West Midlands Police said they were unable to comment on the investigation as it is still live.

But retired senior PSNI officer Jon Burrows, who was head of PSNI Discipline Branch, said there is still vagueness about who or what is being investigated.

He said: “It is absolutely vital that both police officers and the general public have full confidence in the ombudsman, both in terms of the organisation and the holder of the office.”

He asked whether she was present at the address when police could not gain access, and whether they had to leave the scene without access – something he said is highly unusual in a domestic situation.

​”With confirmation that one person has been cautioned for an offence following a police investigation into a domestic incident reportedly at an address linked to the ombudsman and that one investigation, led by West Midland police is still ongoing, there continues to be a vagueness about who or what is being investigated,” said Mr Burrows.

“Transparency is key to trust and transparency is lacking. Delay also saps trust and whilst due process must always be followed, the slowness of the outstanding investigation is striking.

“We are told by police that they failed to get access to the property. What precisely does that mean? Police are in these tricky situations every day, and are adjudicated robustly by the ombudsman's office if they get it wrong.

"Was the ombudsman present? Was she aware that police could not get access? If so, presumably she would have helped the officers gain access so they could execute their duties.

"Police say that 'following contact' a man was arrested. What does this mean? Did police have to leave the scene on their first visit without access? That would be an extraordinary situation, and would if so suggest police departed from normal practise, especially in domestic incidents.

"And the chief constable should explain why this investigation is taking longer than they expected."

At the monthly meeting of the Policing Board in August 2024, Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the West Midlands probe had taken “far longer than any of us had anticipated”. He said police were ensuring independence of the probe “because of the obvious conflict (of interest)”.

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Chris Todd told the board: “The privacy rights of everybody involved need to be respected and it is an ongoing investigation, but because the time has passed I am aware of growing interest and questions from the media, freedom of information requests, etc (and) there’s a danger that if we don’t give some assurance around the effectiveness of the investigation that speculation will grow."

He said the investigation had two strands, the first seeing a file submitted to the PPS – now understood to be closed. “The second strand of the investigation is unlikely to progress further before September [2024] for reasons that are beyond the control of the Police Service of Northern Ireland or the independently led investigation team and the SIO (senior investigating officer)," he added. He did not clarify what factors were causing the delays.

The PSNI, West Midlands Police and Police Ombudsman all said it would be inappropriate to comment due to a live investigation.