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24/05/2011
'No Collusion' Over Solicitor's Bomb Murder
A public inquiry in Northern Ireland into alleged State agency collusion with loyalist terrorists who murdered a Co Armagh solicitor Rosemary Nelson in 1999 has cleared the police of complicity.
It found there was no such "wrongful act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland Office or Army or any other state agency" as it had been commissioned to investigate, but it could not exclude the possibility that a 'rogue member' of the security forces had been involved.
The NI Secretary of State Owen Paterson has however told the House of Commons that there were failings in the measures taken to protect the lawyer and said that the government was "profoundly sorry" for these failures.
In counterpoint, the victim's widower, Paul, claimed last night that the inquiry had "vindicated his wife's belief that elements of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were unable to identify her as a professional lawyer and distinguish her from the alleged crimes and causes of her clients".
He said that after Mrs Nelson represented several high profile clients including prominent republican Colin Duffy and the Garvaghy Road Residents Association, the loyalist paramilitary group, the Red Hand Defenders, killed her in a booby-trap bomb attack near her home.
He said that the RUC not only failed to protect her, but had effectively set her up for murder and had "legitimised her (Mrs Nelson) as a target" by publicly abusing and assaulting her in Portadown two years before her death.
The inquiry was conducted by a panel of three: retired judge Sir Michael Morland, former Chairman of the Board of Customs and Excise, Dame Valerie Strachan, and Sir Anthony Burden, former Chief Constable of South Wales police.
They were asked to determine "whether any wrongful act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland Office or Army or any other state agency facilitated her death or obstructed the investigation of it".
In the event, the multi-million pound probe ruled that state agencies did not directly collude with loyalists who murdered Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson in 1999.
(BMcC/GK)
It found there was no such "wrongful act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland Office or Army or any other state agency" as it had been commissioned to investigate, but it could not exclude the possibility that a 'rogue member' of the security forces had been involved.
The NI Secretary of State Owen Paterson has however told the House of Commons that there were failings in the measures taken to protect the lawyer and said that the government was "profoundly sorry" for these failures.
In counterpoint, the victim's widower, Paul, claimed last night that the inquiry had "vindicated his wife's belief that elements of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were unable to identify her as a professional lawyer and distinguish her from the alleged crimes and causes of her clients".
He said that after Mrs Nelson represented several high profile clients including prominent republican Colin Duffy and the Garvaghy Road Residents Association, the loyalist paramilitary group, the Red Hand Defenders, killed her in a booby-trap bomb attack near her home.
He said that the RUC not only failed to protect her, but had effectively set her up for murder and had "legitimised her (Mrs Nelson) as a target" by publicly abusing and assaulting her in Portadown two years before her death.
The inquiry was conducted by a panel of three: retired judge Sir Michael Morland, former Chairman of the Board of Customs and Excise, Dame Valerie Strachan, and Sir Anthony Burden, former Chief Constable of South Wales police.
They were asked to determine "whether any wrongful act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland Office or Army or any other state agency facilitated her death or obstructed the investigation of it".
In the event, the multi-million pound probe ruled that state agencies did not directly collude with loyalists who murdered Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson in 1999.
(BMcC/GK)
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Northern Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:Apart from a little patchy drizzle it will be a dry evening and night with variable amounts of cloud. A few mist and fog patches forming. Minimum temperature 7 °C.
