Cops 'colluded with killers'
2007-01-23 07:25
Belfast - Top officers in Northern Ireland's police force allowed Protestant paramilitary informers to carry out murders for more than a decade, a report by the British-ruled province's police ombudsman said on Monday.
The report comes as the nationalist party Sinn Fein prepares
for a January 28 conference to decide whether to back a reformed
policing and justice system - a key condition for restoration
of a Protestant-Catholic power sharing assembly.
The three-year inquiry found that special branch officers
turned a blind eye to the criminal activities of a unit of the
outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in order to protect
"agents" within its ranks.
Between 1991 and 2003 members of the Belfast-based UVF gang
killed 10 people, including a Presbyterian minister and a Roman
Catholic taxi driver, and were linked to a catalogue of other
crimes including shootings, drug dealing and extortion.
At the same time police officers paid retainers to those
suspected of the crimes, "babysat" them in interviews to ensure
they did not incriminate themselves and destroyed evidence.
Support from highest levels
"It would be easy to blame the junior officers' conduct,"
Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan said in a statement. "However, they could
not have operated as they did without the knowledge and support
at the highest levels of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and
the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)."
The PSNI replaced the RUC in 2001 as part of policing
reforms under a 1998 peace deal to end 30 years of bloodshed
between majority Protestants who want to retain links with
Britain and a Catholic minority in favour of a united Ireland.
The Protestant-dominated force was dogged by allegations of
collusion with paramilitaries throughout the province's
conflict, accusations that have been highlighted in several
previous reports and that extended to the British security
service, MI5.
O'Loan has sent a file to PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde
naming senior special branch officers and their UVF informers
but prosecutors have indicated charges will not be brought.
O'Loan's report, which began as an inquiry into the 1997
murder of 22-year-old Protestant Raymond McCord, said missing
documents had prevented officers being held to account.
PSNI chief Orde, who took up his post in mid-2002, said the
report made "shocking, disturbing and uncomfortable reading" and
apologised to the families of those affected.
O'Loan said the inquiry had been "difficult and at times
very sad" but she was satisfied the PSNI had taken action to
help prevent any recurrences.
A group of retired police officers said in a statement they
rejected O'Loan's findings and had nothing to be ashamed of.