Nelson Probe Findings To Be Made Public

The results of a public inquiry into the murder of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson will be made public later this month.

NI Secretary of State, Owen Paterson said the report would be shown to the Nelson family before it is published in full on 23 May.

The inquiry was to examine some of the circumstances around Mrs Nelson's death in a booby-trap bomb planted by loyalists in 1999.

It looked at allegations of security force collusion and was held in 2009 when a panel of three judges heard 130 days of testimony. The Inquiry, which was chaired by Sir Michael Morland is understood to have cost about £46.1m.

Now, Mr Paterson (pictured) has said checks to ensure the report's contents did not endanger any individual or compromise national security had been completed.

"I will make a statement to the [House of Commons] at the time when the report is published," he said today.

"I confirm that I will allow an opportunity for members of the family of Rosemary Nelson, as well as the other represented parties at the Inquiry, to see the report privately and be briefed by their lawyers on its contents, some hours before the report is published.

"Some members of the House will similarly have an opportunity to see the report in advance of publication, to enable them to respond to the statement made at the time of publication."

Mrs Nelson was killed when a bomb planted by the loyalist terror group, the Red Hand Defenders detonated under her car as she left her home in Lurgan on 15 March 1999.

The solicitor's case came to international prominence when human rights groups, including representatives of the United Nations, raised fears for her safety following claims she was being intimidated by security force members and loyalist paramilitaries.

A major police investigation, which was led by a senior police officer from England after objections to the probe being led by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, failed to charge anyone for the murder and the police denied any allegations of wrong-doing.

The subsequent inquiry was one of a number ordered by the British and Irish governments.

(BMcC/KMcA)