PSNI’s Loughinisland appeal an insult to families

Posted by admin on June 22, 2014

The families and friends of those killed in the Loughinisand massacre
gathered at the County Down village this week to remember the 20th
anniversary of those killed on June 18 1994.

The six men killed were Adrian Rogan, Patrick O’Hare, Eamon Byrne, who
were in their thirties, Malcolm Jenkinson and Daniel McCreanor, both in
their fifties, and 87-year-old Barney Greene.  They died after a UVF
gang burst into the Heights Bar and began shooting indiscriminately
during a World Cup game between Ireland and Italy.

No-one has ever been convicted for the attack. On Wednesday, a memorial
Mass to mark the 20th anniversary of the atrocity was followed by a
candlelit procession to the Heights bar.

Some relatives of those who died spoke about their pain 20 years on. One
woman who lost her husband said: “This year is particularly hard.”

Earlier this month, the Police Ombudsman notified the PSNI that he is to
take legal action over the force’s refusal to provide information on
more than 100 occasions, stalling investigations into the Heights Bar
attack and some 60 other deaths.

Aidan O’Toole, the barman who survived the attack, said he still grieves
for those killed.

“I remember that night like it was yesterday and with the World Cup on
this year, the mood and feelings are particularly poignant,” he said. “I
survived that night but my thoughts are with those that didn’t. There’s
not a day that goes past that I don’t think about them and their
families.

“We’ll not stop until we get to the truth as to why Loughinisland was
allowed to happen and why there was nobody ever brought to court. The
only time we are in a court these days is when we are trying to get the
police to tell the truth. Why can’t they let us know what happened?”

A lawyer for the families, Niall Murphy of KRW law, described a fresh
appeal by the PSNI for witnesses to come forward as “an insult to the
families’ intelligence”.

“The fact is that there was an over-whelming response from the public
about this case,” he said. “All of the key exhibits in this case were
found by the public not the police. Within hours, the getaway car was
found by member of the public but far from retaining it for forensic
purposes the police destroyed it within months.

“Members of the public also found the guns, the balaclavas, the boiler
suits and the gloves, but far from securing forensic evidence from the
suspects arrested, police refused to take DNA and fingerprints from nine
of 16 people arrested.

“So, far from securing and preserving evidence, police have been
refusing the gather evidence and when they did, in the case of the car,
they destroyed the evidence”.

In 2011 a report by the then police ombudsman found that a female
witness who came forward in 2009 had her details handed to the relative
of a suspect by a serving police officer. A former senior officer who
worked on the case has also refused to cooperate with the ombudsman.

Mr Murphy said that any further appeal for co-operation should be
directed at the police themselves.

“This is a case, where we have the incredible position that the
Ombudsman has had to take High Court Judicial Review proceedings to gain
access to intelligence that he is entitled to inspect,” he added.

Clare Rogan, whose husband Adrian was one of those murdered, said that
two decades on, her pain continues. “All anniversaries are difficult to
deal with, however this year is particularly hard,” she said.

“It is hard to believe 20 years have passed. What is more difficult to
believe is that the police are still refusing to cooperate with the
Police Ombudsman after all these years. What has the chief constable got
to hide? Who are the police trying to protect after all this time?”