28/01/2002

Policing Board meet with victims and families of Omagh bomb

The Northern Ireland Policing Board has met the relatives of the Omagh bomb victims in County Tyrone.

The 19 members of the Policing Board, which supervises the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), are to make their recommendations on the handling of the investigation into the atrocity within a fortnight.

The vice-chairman of the Policing Board, Denis Bradley, said before the meeting with the relatives of the Omagh bomb victims, it was their “biggest test yet”.

Mr Bradley also said they were expecting tough questions but he warned that they may not be able to provide all the answers.

The meeting on Monday January 28 follows the Police Ombudsman’s report which criticised the police handling of the murder inquiry. However in response, PSNI Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan firmly defended police investigations in a report published last week.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, died in the bombing on 15 August 1998 which is largely considered to be the worst single atrocity in the history of the Troubles.

Meanwhile the second of two movies released to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday will be shown at a special showing for international media in Derry’s Tower Museum on Friday and on Channel 4 television on Monday January 28.

The relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday have already watched ‘Sunday’ directed by renowned director Jimmy McGovern which depicts the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972 in which British Paratroopers shot dead 13 unarmed people in the Bogside area of Derry at a special screening earlier in the month. (AMcE)

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

20 November 2003
DPPs tour PSNI Training College
The Police Service College opened its doors to members of District Policing Partnerships (DPPs) today to showcase the vital police work carried out by a number of police departments.
20 November 2002
Policing Board scores well but public lack information
A survey published on the public's perception of the Policing Board has shown that the Board have scored well, but that some of the recent high-profile changes made under the Patton recommendations have fared less well. The area of District Policing Partnerships in particular proved puzzling to those polled.
07 February 2003
New police training college gets go ahead
The Northern Ireland Policing Board has set in motion plans to introduce a new police training college for the PSNI by 2007. The college has been advocated for months by PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde who said that the move was essential if Northern Ireland were to develop a world-renowned police force.
04 September 2007
NI Policing Board Seeks Custody Visitors
The Northern Ireland Policing Board has launched a campaign to recruit Custody Visitors to join the Board’s Custody Visiting Scheme. The volunteer scheme, which operates throughout Northern Ireland, is a means of monitoring how people who are held in police custody are treated.
20 February 2004
Security Minister welcomes police training college decision
Security Minister Jane Kennedy has welcomed the Policing Board's decision to locate the new police training college in Cookstown, Co Tyrone. The new centre will built on a 210-acre site beside a food science centre at Desertcreat on the outskirts of the town and is expected to open in 2007 at a projected cost of about £80m.