No Police Collusion In IRA Murder - Ombudsman

There is no evidence that police colluded to protect members of the IRA who killed a man in north Belfast in 1974, the Police Ombudsman has found.

Dr. Michael Maguire's report said that although there were failures in the RUC investigation of the murder, there was "nothing to suggest these were prompted by a desire to ensure his killers escaped justice."

Arthur Rafferty was shot on 15 August 1974 in Newington Street near to its junction with the Limestone Road in north Belfast. He died several weeks later.

Police documentation shows army and police personnel arrived on the scene and that 12 spent gun cartridges and a bullet head were recovered.

The documentation also indicates a piece of card was found with writing on it that was attached to a coat hanger and found at the scene.

The IRA issued a statement to a local newspaper later the same day in which it said it had carried out the attack.

Police then spoke to Mr Rafferty in hospital several times and to his wife. They also submitted some of his clothing for forensic examination.

Then on 23 September 1974, police received a report that a rifle, ammunition and clothing had been found in a flat in Newington Street. These were submitted to forensics, who found the weapon had been used in the attack and in two other shooting incidents.

A man was arrested in 1974, but there are no notes available to indicate if the person was interviewed. In 1977, police authorised the destruction of the rifle and ammunition. In 1978, a police search of a social club in Belfast on an unconnected matter uncovered a handwritten document that was considered to be a "debrief" of the IRA shooting. It referenced three people's involvement. Two people were then arrested and interviewed in connection with the murder.

In 2005, a member of Mr Rafferty's family told police the names of people they believed were involved in the murder, but the PSNI said there was nothing to link the named people to the shooting.

In 2007, the same family member provided the Police Ombudsman's Office with the names of two people he believed were involved in the attack. Records showed one of these people was in prison at the time of the murder, while the other one was in police custody.

A member of Mr Rafferty's family then alleged to the Police Ombudsman's Office that police colluded with the killers by failing to investigate the murder properly. They alleged that police had destroyed the murder weapon, misplaced exhibits and failed to pursue the names of five suspects that had been supplied to them.

The Police Ombudsman's Office agreed there had been failures in the police investigation and that officers had not managed the crime scene properly. It had not been cordoned off and potentially critical evidence was not preserved or examined.

The Ombudman report also "found no meaningful investigation in how police responded to the discovery of guns, ammunition and clothing. There is no evidence that the person who reported this material to police was ever interviewed, no rationale why police submitted the rifle and ammunition for examination, but not the clothing and no audit trail of what ever happened to any of these items," it said.

Yet, Dr. Maguire said there was no evidence these failures are an indication of collusion.

"We have looked in great detail at all the available information and intelligence, both about the murder itself and about the various people family members thought were linked to it.

"We found no evidence that would indicate police knew about the planned attack beforehand and could have done something about it, or that anyone was protected from arrest or prosecution because they were a police informant," he said.

(IT/JP)