Watchdog’s publication of collusion report ‘legal’

NORTHERN Ireland’s Police Ombudsman was legally entitled to publish a report that found collusion between some RUC officers and loyalists who massacred six Catholic men, the High Court has heard.

Counsel for the watchdog argued legislation allowed him to disclose concerns about police “corporate processes” identified during his investigation into the 1994 Loughinisland atrocity.

Tony McGleenan QC insisted: “There was no illegality at all to be found in the presentation of this report.”

Two retired senior policemen are seeking to have the Ombudsman’s findings quashed.

Judgment was reserved in the challenge mounted by Raymond White and Thomas Hawthorne.

UVF gunmen opened fire at the Heights Bar in the Co Down village as their victims watched a World Cup match in June 1994.

The men killed were Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (53), Barney Green (87), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O’Hare (35), and Eamon Byrne (39). Five others were wounded.

In June 2016 Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said collusion between some officers and the loyalists was a significant feature in the murders.

He found no evidence police had prior knowledge, but identified “catastrophic failings” in the investigation.

Mr White and Mr Hawthorne are challenging the legality of the document. They claim the Ombudsman went beyond his powers in creating an “ad hoc” investigative system, and denied rights and protections to those under scrutiny.