Claudy Investigation Suspended

An investigation into the Claudy bombing has been suspended by the PSNI, until new information or evidence is received.

The PSNI held a meeting with victims and relatives on Friday, which was also attended by the Ulster Unionist Party's Tom Elliot.

Officers told the meeting the investigation would be suspended.

Nine people were killed in Claudy in County L'Derry on 31 July 1972 when three IRA bombs went off in the village.

A car bomb exploded outside a pub on the town's Main Street.

A woman a man and a nine-year-old girl were killed, while two others were fatally injured.

A second bomb was found in a van close near the post office and a third was left near the Beaufort Hotel in a minivan.

Tom Elliott MLA, said: "The news that the Police have suspended the investigation due to a lack of evidence and information was met with a mixture of frustration and anger.

"Claudy is often referred to as the forgotten atrocity. The investigation into it has been a catalogue of failures right from the start. The involvement of a Catholic priest, Father James Chesney was known but covered up, and there is a strong suspicion that the involvement of others may be the reason why the full facts have never been allowed to emerge.

"Concern has been raised that many of the gaps are caused by political interference.

"It is vital that anyone who may have any information, including the deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness should come forward and disclose it to the police."

The DUP's Gregory Campbell said news of the suspension of the investigation was "extremely disappointing but hardly surprising".

He said: "The Police Ombudsman's report from three years ago into the tragedy where 9 people, Protestant and Roman Catholic were murdered, had also indicated what quite a few people knew, which was that the late Roman Catholic Priest Rev. James Chesney was a suspect.

"After that report had been released the Deputy first Minister Martin McGuinness indicated that even though he had previously said he had never met Chesney he had in fact met him on one occasion. He also said that no part of his conversation included any reference to the Claudy bombing.

"Police have called on anyone who knows anything to come forward, for this process to have any hope of offering closure to relatives there is only one realistic prospect in achieving that closure; those who were in the IRA at the time, or who know those that were, need to come forward and reveal what they know."

(IT/CD)