FLAWED POLICE WORK MAY PREVENT ARRESTS
Flawed police work may prevent arrests
BY ROSETTA DONNELLY
THE Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has described the judgement of the chief constable Ronnie Flanagan as seriously flawed and said that that the chances of anyone ever being caught for the Omagh bomb is significantly reduced because of this.
Speaking after a lengthy meeting with families of those injured in the bomb yesterday morning, Nuala O'Loan said she was 'greatly saddened' to say that the flawed judgement of not just Ronnie Flanagan, but the assistant chief constable for Crime as well, had major ramifications on the investigations.
She wants to see the Omagh bomb investigation being taken over by a senior officer independent of the Police Service for Northern Ireland.
Mrs O'Loan's report is highly critical of the role Special Branch played and one of The six recommendations in her report is that a review takes place into the role and function of Special Branch to ensure that it becomes more 'fully and professionally integrated' into the PSNI.
The Ombudsman said the Omagh bomb was the worst terrorist incident since the start of the Troubles in 1969.
Nuala O'Loan arrives in Omagh to present her findings to the families yesterday.
In her opening comments she recalled the statement made at the time by the Chief Constable that those responsible would be brought to justice with every assurance that all necessary resources would be dedicated to the investigation and that 'no stone would be left unturned until those people were brought to justice.'
The Ombudsman said the responsibility for the Omagh bomb was claimed by the Real IRA and she considered that the persons responsible for the Omagh bombing were the terrorists who planned and executed the atrocity.
"Nothing contained in the report or the statement should detract from that clear and unequivocal fact" she added.
She referred to the Sunday People article of July 29 of this year when a lead story claimed that a man, described as a former British Security force agent given the name of Kevin Fulton, claimed the Omagh bomb could have been prevented had the police acted on the information he provided.
The same claims were also made to the Mail on Sunday, which did not publish the allegations.
To establish his credibility, Fulton made a call to his RUC handler, which was tape recorded by the paper, in relation to the information which he claimed to have given the RUC handler three days before the Omagh bomb.
The claims were then obtained and published by the Sunday People newspaper on July 29 of this year.
The Ombudsman's office has a copy of the tape and transcript of the conversation. The Chief Constable then issued an immediate and robust denial to the allegations and a letter was sent on his behalf to the paper.
The letter said retrospective information he (Fulton) gave to the RUC about Omagh was checked and found to be without any foundation whatsoever.
Concerned about the content of the article and weighing up public interest considerations the Ombudsman concluded that it was in the full public interest to investigate the allegations made by Kevin Fulton.
It was felt that if the allegations were without substance, it would help those directly affected by the bomb and would release the RUC from further vilification or innuendo.
In August of this year, Nuala O'Loan informed the Chief Constable that she was making some tentative enquiries into the reports in the Sunday People in relation to the bomb. He promised full co-operation.
Twelve days after the call, Mrs O'Loan informed Ronnie Flanagan that she had decided to carry out a formal investigation as to whether any information or relevance to the bombing was available to the RUC prior to the bomb. The Chief Constable welcomed the investigation and again assured full co-operation.
As the Ombudsman's investigation progressed she discovered that the review of the Omagh Bomb investigation had been carried out by the RUC and that a report had been made to the Chief Constable in November of 2000.
In the Intelligence Chapter of the Omagh Bomb Review Report the Ombudsman discovered the existence of an anonymous information on August 4th 1998.
"It was important to establish whether the Senior Investigating Officer of the Omagh Bomb Investigation team had been informed of this intelligence to enable him to consider any appropriate action.
Mrs O'Loan described as 'cause for concern' the fact that many of the recommendations made in the Omagh Bomb Review report for further investigative action had not been acted upon.
In September of this year, Mrs O'Loan decided to extend the scope of the investigation, aiming to examine whether intelligence held by the RUC was correctly revealed to the Investigation Team and whether the evidential opportunities within the murder review document had been investigated.
The Ombudsman's Investigation did not enquire into the conduct or operational response of the local Omagh police.
Mrs O 'Loan said in an investigation such as this there is always a risk that hindsight can play too great a part.
"The officers who handled the intelligence relevant to this investigation were, at the time, obviously not to know of the tragic events which were to unfold and were dealing with the intelligence in the context of a busy period, at a time of significant terrorist threat and with several bombings having taken place.
In her findings the Ombudsman's said she is satisfied that Fulton did pass information relating to alleged dissident terrorist activities to his CID handlers on five occasions between June and August of 1998.
The contact sheets in respect of each meeting was delivered to Special Branch and two of those sheets relating to the two most important meetings on July 23rd and August 12th 1998 cannot be found in Special Branch records.
The Ombudsman also states that in the period up to August of 1998 there is no formal written record of Fulton being unreliable. In all his contacts with the RUC at this time he is graded by them as a reliable source. Fulton received large rewards from the RUC during his involvement with them.
The Ombudsman said the information contained in the contact sheets should have been seriously considered and assessed by Special Branch in the context of all other reliable and relevant information.
Further action, she said, should have been considered as a consequence of the receipt of information.
Mrs O'Loan said she is satisfied that Fulton never claimed that bomb was destined for Omagh.
BY ROSETTA DONNELLY
THE Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has described the judgement of the chief constable Ronnie Flanagan as seriously flawed and said that that the chances of anyone ever being caught for the Omagh bomb is significantly reduced because of this.
Speaking after a lengthy meeting with families of those injured in the bomb yesterday morning, Nuala O'Loan said she was 'greatly saddened' to say that the flawed judgement of not just Ronnie Flanagan, but the assistant chief constable for Crime as well, had major ramifications on the investigations.
She wants to see the Omagh bomb investigation being taken over by a senior officer independent of the Police Service for Northern Ireland.
Mrs O'Loan's report is highly critical of the role Special Branch played and one of The six recommendations in her report is that a review takes place into the role and function of Special Branch to ensure that it becomes more 'fully and professionally integrated' into the PSNI.
The Ombudsman said the Omagh bomb was the worst terrorist incident since the start of the Troubles in 1969.
Nuala O'Loan arrives in Omagh to present her findings to the families yesterday.
In her opening comments she recalled the statement made at the time by the Chief Constable that those responsible would be brought to justice with every assurance that all necessary resources would be dedicated to the investigation and that 'no stone would be left unturned until those people were brought to justice.'
The Ombudsman said the responsibility for the Omagh bomb was claimed by the Real IRA and she considered that the persons responsible for the Omagh bombing were the terrorists who planned and executed the atrocity.
"Nothing contained in the report or the statement should detract from that clear and unequivocal fact" she added.
She referred to the Sunday People article of July 29 of this year when a lead story claimed that a man, described as a former British Security force agent given the name of Kevin Fulton, claimed the Omagh bomb could have been prevented had the police acted on the information he provided.
The same claims were also made to the Mail on Sunday, which did not publish the allegations.
To establish his credibility, Fulton made a call to his RUC handler, which was tape recorded by the paper, in relation to the information which he claimed to have given the RUC handler three days before the Omagh bomb.
The claims were then obtained and published by the Sunday People newspaper on July 29 of this year.
The Ombudsman's office has a copy of the tape and transcript of the conversation. The Chief Constable then issued an immediate and robust denial to the allegations and a letter was sent on his behalf to the paper.
The letter said retrospective information he (Fulton) gave to the RUC about Omagh was checked and found to be without any foundation whatsoever.
Concerned about the content of the article and weighing up public interest considerations the Ombudsman concluded that it was in the full public interest to investigate the allegations made by Kevin Fulton.
It was felt that if the allegations were without substance, it would help those directly affected by the bomb and would release the RUC from further vilification or innuendo.
In August of this year, Nuala O'Loan informed the Chief Constable that she was making some tentative enquiries into the reports in the Sunday People in relation to the bomb. He promised full co-operation.
Twelve days after the call, Mrs O'Loan informed Ronnie Flanagan that she had decided to carry out a formal investigation as to whether any information or relevance to the bombing was available to the RUC prior to the bomb. The Chief Constable welcomed the investigation and again assured full co-operation.
As the Ombudsman's investigation progressed she discovered that the review of the Omagh Bomb investigation had been carried out by the RUC and that a report had been made to the Chief Constable in November of 2000.
In the Intelligence Chapter of the Omagh Bomb Review Report the Ombudsman discovered the existence of an anonymous information on August 4th 1998.
"It was important to establish whether the Senior Investigating Officer of the Omagh Bomb Investigation team had been informed of this intelligence to enable him to consider any appropriate action.
Mrs O'Loan described as 'cause for concern' the fact that many of the recommendations made in the Omagh Bomb Review report for further investigative action had not been acted upon.
In September of this year, Mrs O'Loan decided to extend the scope of the investigation, aiming to examine whether intelligence held by the RUC was correctly revealed to the Investigation Team and whether the evidential opportunities within the murder review document had been investigated.
The Ombudsman's Investigation did not enquire into the conduct or operational response of the local Omagh police.
Mrs O 'Loan said in an investigation such as this there is always a risk that hindsight can play too great a part.
"The officers who handled the intelligence relevant to this investigation were, at the time, obviously not to know of the tragic events which were to unfold and were dealing with the intelligence in the context of a busy period, at a time of significant terrorist threat and with several bombings having taken place.
In her findings the Ombudsman's said she is satisfied that Fulton did pass information relating to alleged dissident terrorist activities to his CID handlers on five occasions between June and August of 1998.
The contact sheets in respect of each meeting was delivered to Special Branch and two of those sheets relating to the two most important meetings on July 23rd and August 12th 1998 cannot be found in Special Branch records.
The Ombudsman also states that in the period up to August of 1998 there is no formal written record of Fulton being unreliable. In all his contacts with the RUC at this time he is graded by them as a reliable source. Fulton received large rewards from the RUC during his involvement with them.
The Ombudsman said the information contained in the contact sheets should have been seriously considered and assessed by Special Branch in the context of all other reliable and relevant information.
Further action, she said, should have been considered as a consequence of the receipt of information.
Mrs O'Loan said she is satisfied that Fulton never claimed that bomb was destined for Omagh.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0871
Published Date: 13-Dec-01
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