LEGAL ACTION ‘INSULT TO VICTIMS’ FAMILIES’
DISMAY AS EX-RUC MEN WANT LOUGHINISLAND REPORT QUASHED
THE daughter of a man killed in the Loughinisland massacre has said legal action taken by two retired senior police officers is traumatising the relatives of those murdered.
The High Court in Belfast heard it claimed yesterday that the Police Ombudsman went beyond his legal powers in creating an “ad hoc” investigative system that found RUC officers colluded with loyalists who massacred six Catholic men.
Counsel for two retired senior policemen claimed the watchdog report into the Loughinisland murders denied rights and protections to those under scrutiny.
Raymond White and Thomas Hawthorne are seeking to have the Ombudsman’s findings quashed.
UVF gunmen opened fire at the Heights Bar in the Co Down village as their victims watched a World Cup football match in June 1994, killing six and wounding five others.
In June last year, Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said collusion between some officers and the loyalists was a significant feature in the atrocity.
He found no evidence that police had prior knowledge, but identified “catastrophic failings” in the investigation.
But Mr White, a representative of the Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers’ Association, and Mr Hawthorne, a retired chief superintendent and former sub-divisional commander in the area, are challenging the legality of the document.
Opening their bid for a judicial review, David McMillen QC said: “The Ombudsman stepped outside the system set out in legislation and created a role for himself beyond his powers.”
Mr McMillen stressed his clients’ “unequivocal” support for the watchdog scrutinising police conduct and holding officers to account — a role set out in parliamentary legislation.
He argued, however, that insufficient rights were given to those subject to final determinations.
“The scheme operated by the Ombudsman to carry out this investigation was an ad hoc scheme unknown to the statute, which then left the Ombudsman free to create his own checks and balances, such as they were.”
The court heard that a letter which was sent to Mr Hawthorne in 2015 contained no claims that loyalist terrorists were being allowed to “run riot” in the south Down area.
Mr McMillen insisted that any such allegations should have been put to him, and questioned the timing of correspondence three years into the Ombudsman’s investigation. Responding for the Ombudsman, Tony McGleenan QC argued that the watchdog had an obligation to investigate such serious allegations.
He told the court that if the applicants were right it would effectively mean the Ombudsman should ignore the claims and walk away.
Following submissions, the case was adjourned to next week.
Relatives of some of those killed in the Heights Bar in June 1994 were in court to hear the legal arguments.
Speaking afterwards, Ms Rogan spoke of her despair at the move.
“The only person that ever gave us any sort of truth was the Police Ombudsman, and here today we are back in court again with the police officers, the very people that were supposed to investigate these murders at the time in 1994, are trying to have that report quashed,” she told the BBC.
“It’s just re-victimising families and traumatising people.”
Solicitor Niall Murphy, who represents the families of the victims, described the legal action as an insult to them.
The only person that ever gave us any sort of truth was the Police Ombudsman, and here today we are back in court again