Billy Wright Inquiry 'Not Satisfied' With PSNI Response

Suspended hearings into the killing of LVF leader Billy Wright - shot dead by INLA prisoners inside the Maze Prison 10 years ago last month - are due to resume next week, but inquiry chairman Lord MacLean still believes the PSNI has fallen short of the panel's requests for full documentation to be produced.

Last year he said "outstanding gaps are in the intelligence information that we think exists and is not being produced".

Hearings have been suspended since last September, in part because the inquiry says the PSNI has failed to hand in intelligence material the police should have.

The prison death of one of the killers has also stymied the investigation.

But, missing documents have hampered the inquiry for more than two years.

In November 2006, the inquiry held special hearings that revealed the Prison Service lost intelligence files about Wright and his killers and destroyed thousands of other records from the Maze.

Now the panel members looking into the murder of the LVF chief are to disclose the reasons why they are "not satisfied" with documents provided by the PSNI.

The PSNI has already told the inquiry panel that it has conducted multiple searches of its records and they believe they have handed over all the available material.

They said record keeping was poor at the time and documents were scattered over 41 locations.

Last October, the PSNI submitted a report to the inquiry by retired Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kinkaid, indicating all the efforts to recover documents.

But the inquiry panel said it "has not led to the production of specific intelligence documents that have been sought."

The inquiry has been serving legal notices on the PSNI since November 2005, requiring the production of documents.

However, the inquiry has indicated problems with every intelligence agency from which it has sought material.

As well as the Prison Service and the PSNI, the inquiry has previously said some MI5 documents are missing. And last year they said the Army, which ran an intelligence office inside the Maze compound, was seeking a special gagging order to withhold material.

An additional problem for the inquiry was the apparent prison suicide last year of John Kenneway, one of Wright's killers. He died before he could be interviewed by the inquiry.

(BMcC)