Watchdog condemns PSNI over Cahill sex abuse case

Chief Constable says sorry for‘ hurt and distress’ caused by police failings Mairia Cahill writes exclusively about trauma of botched investigation

THE PSNI failed Belfast woman Mairia Cahill and other victims of alleged child abuse, a damning report by the police watchdog has revealed.

Ms Cahill (right) told police in 2010 that she had been sexually abused when she was 16. However, the subsequent PSNI investigation “had failed” Ms Cahill and other victims, the Police Ombudsman found.

An angry Ms Cahill said some of the findings were “simply staggering”. Chief Constable George Hamilton last night apologised “unequivocally for the hurt and distress caused.”

A DAMNING report by the Police Ombudsman into how Mairia Cahill’s alleged child abuse case was handled has found that the PSNI failed her.

In 2010, Ms Cahill, originally from west Belfast, told police she had been sexually abused by Martin Morris from 1997 to 1998, when she was aged 16, and was later subjected to an IRA ‘investigation’. Two other women said they had been abused as children by the same man.

Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire found that the RUC had information about the alleged abuse 10 years before Ms Cahill’s report — but did not act.

“When the RUC received this intelligence it was not disseminated and there is no evidence of any police investigation or enquiries as a result of it. The material was sufficiently specific that had police undertaken even cursory inquiries they would have identified potential victims of abuse,” said Dr Maguire.

When the PSNI initiated investigations into both these matters it resulted in several prosecutions. However, in 2014 the trials of the man accused of the rape, and of those accused of involvement in the IRA investigation, collapsed when Ms Cahill and the two other women withdrew their evidence, citing a loss of confidence in how the matter had been dealt with.

Ms Cahill complained to the Police Ombudsman’s Office about the handling of her report.

Writing in today’s Belfast Telegraph, Ms Cahill stated: “Specific officers were made aware of intelligence. The Police Ombudsman concluded that no action was taken. Had it been it would have saved me further trauma of some of that IRA investigation.

“To say that I was shocked and stunned is an understatement. I threw up in the toilet once the conclusions started to sink in.

“I’m angry that I have been let down by almost everybody in relation to my case.”

Dr Maguire concluded that Ms Cahill, now an SDLP councillor, had been failed by police in key areas. He was critical of a decision not to hold a serious case review and the circumstances of the police decision to split its probe across two units: one which specialised in dealing with victims of sexual assault and one with experience in dealing with terrorism.

“I accept that police wanted to move quickly on the sexual allegations and to use their different expertise to maximum effect,” he said. “While I do not agree that this led to evidence being diluted, it did bring about a disjointed approach. There is no evidence they considered any other approach.”

He also found the PSNI was inconsistent in its investigation of some of the people suspected of IRA membership, which in one case led to an individual not being arrested and questioned.

He found no evidence, however, that anyone had been protected from prosecution. It was recommended that four police officers be disciplined. Three have now been disciplined. The fourth had retired.

PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton last night apologised as he accepted the report and its recommendations.

“At the heart of this report are three victims abused as children, who were then failed by their police service,” he said.

“I apologise unequivocally for the hurt and distress caused to them and for the failures in the police investigation.”