Police Ombudsman's report identifies collusion

A report by the Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan has today revealed that loyalist paramilitaries were involved in the murders of up to 15 people while working as Special Branch informers.

UVF members were protected by police who ensured perpetrators escaped prosecution as vital evidence was withheld from investigating officers.

The Ombudsman's inquiry, which has lasted for three-years, refers to Informant No 1, understood to be former UVF chief Mark Haddock, who between 1991 and 2003 was paid at least £79,840 by Special Branch officers.

The report also revealed that the informants, who are believed to have been based in the Mount Vernon area of north Belfast, were also, involved in the murders of ten people; 72 instances of other crime, including: ten attempted murders; ten "punishment" shootings; 13 punishment attacks; A bomb attack in Monaghan; 17 instances of drug dealing, and; additional criminality, including criminal damage, extortion and intimidation.

Police Ombudsman investigators identified intelligence which linked Haddock and his associates to an additional five murders.

Informants were reportedly 'babysat' through interviews to help them avoid incriminating themselves, false notes were created and searches of houses to locate UVF arms and the search of a UVF arms dump were blocked for no valid reason.

It was revealed that misleading information was prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and vital intelligence likely to have assisted in the investigation of serious crimes, including murder, was withheld from police investigation teams.

Commenting on the report, Nuala O'Loan said: "It would be easy to blame the junior officers' conduct in dealing with various informants and indeed they are not blameless. However, they could not have operated as they did without the knowledge and support at the highest levels of the RUC and the PSNI."

Mrs O'Loan said she believed a culture of subservience to Special Branch had developed within the RUC which had created a form of dysfunction.

Mrs O'Loan added: "The effect of that dysfunction was that, whilst undoubtedly Special Branch officers were effective in preventing bombings, shootings and other attacks, some informants were able to continue to engage in terrorist activities, including murder, without the Criminal Investigation Department having the ability to deal with them for some of these offences."

Mrs O'Loan has said she believes the PSNI has made significant changes and introduced new policies in relation to its handling of informants and added that the PSNI have also accepted all of the recommendations contained in her statement: "This has been a difficult and at times very sad investigation, both to conduct and to report on. I am satisfied that the PSNI have accepted the mistakes of the past and put in place policies and procedures to help ensure they will not happen in the future."

The investigation was the most complex ever undertaken by the Ombudsman, with more than 100 serving and retired police officers interviewed, 24 of them under caution.

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(EF/SP)