TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Timeline of events
During her time as Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan released several hundred reports and Press statements. The most significant included:
December 2001, the Omagh Bomb report.
The defining moment of Mrs O'Loan's reign.
It damningly found that top ranking police officers, including Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan, had failed the 29 people killed and their families.
It soured relations with the police, rank and file officers' bodies and unionist politicians.
It also left Mrs O'Loan out on a limb, as the Government did not row in to support her.
The main findings were that: police had two prior warnings - on August 4 and 12, 1998 - about plans to attack Omagh which were not properly handled; the judgment and leadership of the Chief Constable and Assistant Chief Constable was "seriously flawed"; and as a result the chances of detailing and convicting the Omagh bombers was "significantly reduced".
It also said Special Branch officers failed to pass on information warning of threatened dissident republican attacks, including one in Omagh on the day of the bomb
Sir Ronnie Flanagan refuted the allegations and wanted the report quashed.
July 2004, report on death of informer William Stobie.
Mrs O'Loan found that police had done all they could to protect Mr Stobie, who was a key witness and informer in the Pat Finucane collusion case.
Mr Stobie, 51, a known UDA man, was shot dead outside his home at a block of flats in the Glencairn area of Belfast on December 12, 2001. Fellow loyalists were responsible.
He had given court evidence relating to the Finucane case.
Mr Stobie's family had alleged that the police failed to protect him from threats to his life.
August 2004, report on the PSNI raid of Sinn Fein offices during the Stormontgate affair.
The Ombudsman said she found no evidence to substantiate allegations that the searches were "politically motivated".
But also said the scale and manner of the police operation was totally disproportionate.
July 2006, report on allegations that Disappeared victim Jean McConville was an informer.
Mrs O'Loan found no evidence to indicate that west Belfast woman Jean McConville, who was killed by terrorists in 1972, had ever passed information to the security services.
The IRA had often used the excuse that Mrs McConville was an informer as an excuse for her death.
"She was not an informant," said Mrs O'Loan.
January 2007, Operation Ballast Report.
After a three-and-a-half-year investigation into a series of complaints about police conduct in relation to the murder of Raymond McCord Jnr in November 1997, Mrs O'Loan upheld a complaint from his father Raymond McCord that police acted in such a way as to protect informants from being fully accountable to the law.
The initial investigation soon revealed issues of concern in relation to a series of other incidents, as more than 100 serving and retired police officers were interviewed and over 10,000 police documents recovered.
Mrs O'Loan said: "What emerged during our inquiries was that all of the informants at the centre of this investigation were members of the UVF.
"There was no effective strategic management of these informants. As a consequence of the practices of Special Branch, the position of the UVF - particularly in north Belfast and Newtownabbey - was consolidated and strengthened over the years. How could this happen?"
The protected informants were involved in: the murders of 10 people; 10 attempted murders; 10 "punishment" shootings; 13 "punishment" attacks; a bomb attack in Monaghan; 17 instances of drug dealing and additional criminality, including criminal damage, extortion and intimidation.
The Police Federation, in particular, condemned the report for lacking concrete evidence.
September 2007, report on Rosemary Nelson's death.
The Ombudsman concluded there were RUC failings in the Nelson case when "an abusive and inherently dangerous leaflet and a death threat made against the solicitor Rosemary Nelson were not handled properly by the police".
Mrs O'Loan said that in their handling of these documents the RUC did not properly consider the particular nature of Mrs Nelson's public profile -or the level of concern about her safety.
She supplied material from her investigation to Judge Peter Cory, who is looking at the wider issue of collusion in the death of Mrs Nelson in 1997.
October 2007, Greysteel massacre report.
An investigation established that police did not have any prior knowledge which could have helped them prevent the terrorist attack in Greysteel on Halloween night in 1993, when two masked men then burst into the Rising Sun bar and fired a series of shots. Eight people died.
SDLP MLA John Dallat complained that information he had given to police, if acted upon, could have prevented the attack.
Mrs O'Loan said the investigation found no evidence to support Mr Dallat's allegations.
During her time as Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan released several hundred reports and Press statements. The most significant included:
December 2001, the Omagh Bomb report.
The defining moment of Mrs O'Loan's reign.
It damningly found that top ranking police officers, including Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan, had failed the 29 people killed and their families.
It soured relations with the police, rank and file officers' bodies and unionist politicians.
It also left Mrs O'Loan out on a limb, as the Government did not row in to support her.
The main findings were that: police had two prior warnings - on August 4 and 12, 1998 - about plans to attack Omagh which were not properly handled; the judgment and leadership of the Chief Constable and Assistant Chief Constable was "seriously flawed"; and as a result the chances of detailing and convicting the Omagh bombers was "significantly reduced".
It also said Special Branch officers failed to pass on information warning of threatened dissident republican attacks, including one in Omagh on the day of the bomb
Sir Ronnie Flanagan refuted the allegations and wanted the report quashed.
July 2004, report on death of informer William Stobie.
Mrs O'Loan found that police had done all they could to protect Mr Stobie, who was a key witness and informer in the Pat Finucane collusion case.
Mr Stobie, 51, a known UDA man, was shot dead outside his home at a block of flats in the Glencairn area of Belfast on December 12, 2001. Fellow loyalists were responsible.
He had given court evidence relating to the Finucane case.
Mr Stobie's family had alleged that the police failed to protect him from threats to his life.
August 2004, report on the PSNI raid of Sinn Fein offices during the Stormontgate affair.
The Ombudsman said she found no evidence to substantiate allegations that the searches were "politically motivated".
But also said the scale and manner of the police operation was totally disproportionate.
July 2006, report on allegations that Disappeared victim Jean McConville was an informer.
Mrs O'Loan found no evidence to indicate that west Belfast woman Jean McConville, who was killed by terrorists in 1972, had ever passed information to the security services.
The IRA had often used the excuse that Mrs McConville was an informer as an excuse for her death.
"She was not an informant," said Mrs O'Loan.
January 2007, Operation Ballast Report.
After a three-and-a-half-year investigation into a series of complaints about police conduct in relation to the murder of Raymond McCord Jnr in November 1997, Mrs O'Loan upheld a complaint from his father Raymond McCord that police acted in such a way as to protect informants from being fully accountable to the law.
The initial investigation soon revealed issues of concern in relation to a series of other incidents, as more than 100 serving and retired police officers were interviewed and over 10,000 police documents recovered.
Mrs O'Loan said: "What emerged during our inquiries was that all of the informants at the centre of this investigation were members of the UVF.
"There was no effective strategic management of these informants. As a consequence of the practices of Special Branch, the position of the UVF - particularly in north Belfast and Newtownabbey - was consolidated and strengthened over the years. How could this happen?"
The protected informants were involved in: the murders of 10 people; 10 attempted murders; 10 "punishment" shootings; 13 "punishment" attacks; a bomb attack in Monaghan; 17 instances of drug dealing and additional criminality, including criminal damage, extortion and intimidation.
The Police Federation, in particular, condemned the report for lacking concrete evidence.
September 2007, report on Rosemary Nelson's death.
The Ombudsman concluded there were RUC failings in the Nelson case when "an abusive and inherently dangerous leaflet and a death threat made against the solicitor Rosemary Nelson were not handled properly by the police".
Mrs O'Loan said that in their handling of these documents the RUC did not properly consider the particular nature of Mrs Nelson's public profile -or the level of concern about her safety.
She supplied material from her investigation to Judge Peter Cory, who is looking at the wider issue of collusion in the death of Mrs Nelson in 1997.
October 2007, Greysteel massacre report.
An investigation established that police did not have any prior knowledge which could have helped them prevent the terrorist attack in Greysteel on Halloween night in 1993, when two masked men then burst into the Rising Sun bar and fired a series of shots. Eight people died.
SDLP MLA John Dallat complained that information he had given to police, if acted upon, could have prevented the attack.
Mrs O'Loan said the investigation found no evidence to support Mr Dallat's allegations.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/705
Published Date: 06-Nov-07
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