Baggott blocking inquiries, says Police Ombudsman

Posted by Jim on June 7, 2014

 

The North’s Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire has launched a legal action
against PSNI Chief Matt Baggott over the failure to provide information
on major investigations into killings throughout the conflict.

The dramatic move follows long-running complaints over delays in the
PSNI’s co-operation with investigators reviewing allegations of Crown
force wrongdoing.

The Ombudsman is seeking a judicial review of Baggott’s conduct. It is
understood that at least some of the cases involve informers or state
agents.

The dispute centres on recent and historic cases, ranging from the 1994
Loughinisland massacre, where loyalist gunmen killed six people as they
watched the World Cup in a County Down bar, to an attack just four years
ago in which a PSNI member was injured.

In a statement, the ombudsman’s office said that despite repeated
requests over past months, the PSNI has on more than 100 occasions
“either refused to provide information to the office or has said that it
must first explain and justify why the material is wanted”.

In response, the PSNI claimed there were “complicated, and sometimes
unfortunately competing, legal issues” but that its “primary
consideration” was that of “protecting life”.

It has long been believed that the RUC did not conduct a proper
investigation into the Loughinisland pub massacre because there was
collusion between the force and the UVF death squad which carried out
the killings.

A report by the previous police ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, concluded that
the RUC failed to properly investigate what happened at Loughinisland,
but said there was insufficient evidence of collusion. Those findings
were quashed after a legal challenge by relatives of those who were
killed.

Mr Maguire is now conducting a fresh investigation. He insisted he was
legally entitled to the information being held by the PSNI. “The Police
Ombudsman’s office does not do investigations by negotiation,” he said.

Other cases Baggott is accused of blocking include incidents where
member of the police have been killed.

RUC woman Colleen McMurray died and another was seriously injured when
their car was hit by a mortar in Newry, County Down, in March 1992. It
has been claimed that the RUC’s Special Branch had advance warning about
the attack, and that at least two IRA informers were involved.

The Ombudsman is also trying to find out if the PSNI contributed to the
2006 death of former senior Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson, after he
had been exposed as an RUC/PSNI and MI5 informer.

An inquiry into an attack in 2010 by the breakaway ‘dissident’ group,
Oglaigh na hEireann, in which Catholic PSNI man Peader Heffron was
seriously injured, is also being blocked by Baggott.

Sinn Fein Assembly member Caitriona Ruane said the PSNI chief’s refusal
to provide information to the ombudsman was “entirely unacceptable”.

“This is affecting several key and high profile cases in which families
such as those in Loughinisland are seeking the truth and it will damage
overall confidence in the PSNI,” she said.

“It is therefore not surprising that the ombudsman has been forced to
take this action against Matt Baggott.

“We commend him for exhausting every avenue to conclude on these
investigations despite the barriers being put in place and support
victims and survivors and their families.”

*  It was announced separately this week that the PSNI Chief is to
accelerate his departure from the force by two months. Baggott, who had
been due to retire at the end of August, is now expected to vacate his
post by the end of June.