Loughanisland Murders - Ombudsman Fudge

[Jim_Murphy_74]

If we accept one of his findings, I think we all have to accept both of them.

Not strictly true.  Of his findings the following were in the public domain (and to be honest couldn't but be found by the inquiry):

* Records were missing.

* The car used by the UVF was improperly destroyed 10 months after the attack after lying outside a police station exposed to the elements.

* Police failed to investigate properly the link between the Loughinisland shootings and other terrorist attacks.

* Failures in the management of the murder incident room in the early stages and in the management of the computer system used by the investigation may also have resulted in the loss of evidential opportunities.

* Failure to analyse guns, clothes etc found after the crime.

* Also it was reported at the time that weapons used were of a type used by security forces.

One could take him at face value that some of these were issues of neglect but items being destroyed (such as a small thing like a car) point to something more deliberate.  The report itself seems negligent no to offer an explanation as to how these things happened, or at least document the efforts made to understand these.

In fact the only new aspect the report could have brought to the party seems to have been ignored.

/Jim.

[Cáthasaigh]

[Nally Stand]

Surely it's time this Hutchinson p***k stood down.



http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/22/cji-report-into-ombudsman/ombudsman-loses-staff-trust-over-withheld-intelligence

HUTCHINSON FACES RENEWED CALLS TO QUIT OVER DAMNING REPORT

In April two separate investigations were launched into the Office of Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (OPONI) after its chief executive Sam Pollock resigned claiming the Northern Ireland Office had interfered in the office and that there had been a "significant lowering of the professional independence" between OPONI and the PSNI.

Mr Hutchinson insisted his office had "real and practical independence from the PSNI".

However The Detail can now reveal that an investigation, carried out by Criminal Justice Inspector (CJI) Dr Michael Maguire, has concluded that:

•   A "lowering of independence" in the ombudsman's office means it should now be suspended from investigating historic murders

•   Ombudsman reports were altered or rewritten to exclude criticism of police with no explanation

•   Senior ombudsman officials demanded to be disassociated from investigation reports after their original findings were dramatically altered without reason

•   Ombudsman staff investigating some of the worst atrocities of the Troubles believe key intelligence has been deliberately withheld from them

•   CJI inspectors uncovered major "inconsistencies" in ombudsman investigations of the Loughinisland, McGurks and Claudy atrocities


In June Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson rejected nationalist demands to resign after his investigation into the Loughinisland massacre was branded a `whitewash' by the families of six men shot dead by the UVF in the June 1994 atrocity.

Less than a week later Community Relations Council (CRC) chairman Tony McCusker published the first of the two investigations into OPONI.

While Mr McCusker cleared the NIO of interfering in OPONI he concluded that Mr Hutchinson's lack of leadership had undermined the effectiveness of the office.

Mr Hutchinson subsequently rejected calls for him to resign.

However, The Detail has now obtained a confidential draft copy of CJI inspector Michael Maguire's report into allegations that OPONI had lost its operational independence from the PSNI.