15/04/2008
RUC Faces Criticism On Killings
The RUC is under fire on two fronts this week as a public inquiry into the murder of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson is expected to criticise officers for inaction over threats to the victim.
In a separate development, members of RUC Special Branch and other senior police officers have been accused of protecting an IRA gunman who killed an off-duty RUC officer.
Mrs Nelson, a mother-of-three, aged 40, died after a booby-trap bomb planted by loyalists exploded under her car in March 1999.
Retired judge Sir Michael Morland is chairing a three-strong panel examining alleged security force collusion.
He will further develop questions that arose in a Police Ombudsman report last September. It found that threats made against her months before she was murdered were not properly investigated by the RUC.
The new inquiry must determine whether the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland Office (NIO), Army or other state agency facilitated the murder, or blocked attempts to investigate it.
The collusion allegations arose because of Mrs Nelson's role as the legal representative in a number of high profile cases, including that of the nationalist Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition in Portadown.
Meanwhile, a murdered police officer's son is alleging wrong-doing after his dad, Constable John Larmour who shot dead in Belfast in October 1988.
A Police Ombudsman's report has already said some information was withheld from detectives investigating the murder.
Gavin Larmour said some officers knew who the killer of his father was but did not pass it on, possibly because he was an informer.
Mr Larmour, 42, was shot dead by the IRA in an ice cream parlour on the Lisburn Road.
He had been helping his brother, who owned the business but was on holiday in Spain.
The Police Ombudsman's Office has upheld a complaint by Gavin Larmour that the police did not carry out a proper investigation.
(BMcC)
In a separate development, members of RUC Special Branch and other senior police officers have been accused of protecting an IRA gunman who killed an off-duty RUC officer.
Mrs Nelson, a mother-of-three, aged 40, died after a booby-trap bomb planted by loyalists exploded under her car in March 1999.
Retired judge Sir Michael Morland is chairing a three-strong panel examining alleged security force collusion.
He will further develop questions that arose in a Police Ombudsman report last September. It found that threats made against her months before she was murdered were not properly investigated by the RUC.
The new inquiry must determine whether the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland Office (NIO), Army or other state agency facilitated the murder, or blocked attempts to investigate it.
The collusion allegations arose because of Mrs Nelson's role as the legal representative in a number of high profile cases, including that of the nationalist Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition in Portadown.
Meanwhile, a murdered police officer's son is alleging wrong-doing after his dad, Constable John Larmour who shot dead in Belfast in October 1988.
A Police Ombudsman's report has already said some information was withheld from detectives investigating the murder.
Gavin Larmour said some officers knew who the killer of his father was but did not pass it on, possibly because he was an informer.
Mr Larmour, 42, was shot dead by the IRA in an ice cream parlour on the Lisburn Road.
He had been helping his brother, who owned the business but was on holiday in Spain.
The Police Ombudsman's Office has upheld a complaint by Gavin Larmour that the police did not carry out a proper investigation.
(BMcC)
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