AGENT'S ALLEGATIONS SPARKED INVESTIGATION
Agent's allegations sparked investigation
THE Ombudsman's investigation was sparked off by the allegations of the agent 'Kevin Fulton'.
She concluded, though, that even if action had been taken in respect of that intelligence alone, it was unlikely that the Omagh bomb could have been prevented.
The report commented:
- Fulton did pass information relating to alleged dissident terrorist activities to his CID handler on five occasions between June and August 1998
- The contact sheets in respect of each of these meetings were delivered to Special Branch
- The contact sheets in respect of the two most important meetings on July 21, 1998 and August 12, 1998 cannot be found in Special Branch records
- In the period up to August 1998, there is no formal written RUC record of Fulton being unreliable. In all his contacts with the RUC at this time, he is graded by them as a reliable source
- Notwithstanding his earlier period of acknowledged unreliability, in the latter part of 1994, Fulton had been granted "participating informant" status, in July 1997 by the ACC Crime, and in 1999 by another agency. Fulton received large rewards (from the RUC during his involvement with them)
- The information contained in these contact sheets should have been seriously considered and assessed by Special Branch in the context of all other available and relevant information
- Further action as a consequence of the receipt of the information should have been considered
- Fulton never claimed that a bomb was destined for Omagh
- Fulton did not say that he took the RUC to the location in which the Omagh bomb was made, as reported in a newspaper article. He did take RUC officers, in December 1998, to a location which he said had been used in the past for bomb making
- The Omagh Bomb Review Team was unaware of Fulton's information throughout the period of the Review
The Omagh Bomb Investigation Team only received the Fulton intelligence after allegations appeared in the Sunday People newspaper on July 29, 2001
THE Ombudsman's investigation was sparked off by the allegations of the agent 'Kevin Fulton'.
She concluded, though, that even if action had been taken in respect of that intelligence alone, it was unlikely that the Omagh bomb could have been prevented.
The report commented:
- Fulton did pass information relating to alleged dissident terrorist activities to his CID handler on five occasions between June and August 1998
- The contact sheets in respect of each of these meetings were delivered to Special Branch
- The contact sheets in respect of the two most important meetings on July 21, 1998 and August 12, 1998 cannot be found in Special Branch records
- In the period up to August 1998, there is no formal written RUC record of Fulton being unreliable. In all his contacts with the RUC at this time, he is graded by them as a reliable source
- Notwithstanding his earlier period of acknowledged unreliability, in the latter part of 1994, Fulton had been granted "participating informant" status, in July 1997 by the ACC Crime, and in 1999 by another agency. Fulton received large rewards (from the RUC during his involvement with them)
- The information contained in these contact sheets should have been seriously considered and assessed by Special Branch in the context of all other available and relevant information
- Further action as a consequence of the receipt of the information should have been considered
- Fulton never claimed that a bomb was destined for Omagh
- Fulton did not say that he took the RUC to the location in which the Omagh bomb was made, as reported in a newspaper article. He did take RUC officers, in December 1998, to a location which he said had been used in the past for bomb making
- The Omagh Bomb Review Team was unaware of Fulton's information throughout the period of the Review
The Omagh Bomb Investigation Team only received the Fulton intelligence after allegations appeared in the Sunday People newspaper on July 29, 2001
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0964
Published Date: 13-Dec-01
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