QUESTIONS REMAIN AS WHY THE BOMB WASN'T STOPPED
Questions remain as why the bomb wasn't stopped
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
LAST May, UTV broadcast an interview with a former RUC Detective, Sergeant Johnson 'Jonty' Brown of the Criminal Investigation Branch (CID). He claimed Special Branch routinely blocked investigations and destroyed evidence in order to protect informers.
The row raging at the moment concerns the prospect that information was not passed on from Special Branch to local police about the bomb in Omagh on August 15, 1988. The Ombudsman's report published yesterday (but leaked last week) indicates that police were tipped off in plenty of time about a prospective incident.
A number of questions remain unanswered: Why was the information not passed on? Why were the public (on a carnival day) not warned about the threat? Did the security forces allow the bomb to come to Omagh to protect an agent within the Real IRA? Was the bomb allowed to come to Omagh to finally and irreparable split republicanism? These questions may never be answered however the circumstances under which Special Branch has worked since the beginning of the Troubles' raises doubts.
In a police memo issued in the 1980s police especially CID were instructed to co-operate with Special Branch, and that relationship developed into one whereby almost all work on criminal investigations had first to be cleared by Special Branch.
The memo reads, "Co-operation between Special branch and CID should be made a matter of conscious policy at all levels. Efforts must be made to develop trusted relationships and maximum liaison. Senior officers must be prepared to take a firm line where poor relationships are interfering with the efficient conduct of business, even if this entails the transfer of staff who insist on conducting business in their own way to the detriment of the overall objectives of the Force."
It is known that when a CID man received information pertaining to an attack the same day as Omagh was bombed, that information was passed to Special Branch. Special Branch assessed that information and neither it nor the outcome of that assessment was then passed on to officers on the ground.
To protect agents, the Walker Report said, "All proposals to effect planned arrests must be cleared with regional Special Branch to ensure that no agents of either the RUC or army are involved. A decision to arrest an agent must only be taken after discussion between Special Branch and CID. If agreement is not possible the matter will be referred to Assistant Chief Constable level. The charging of an agent must be the result of a conscious decision by both Special Branch and CID in which the balance of advantage has been carefully weighed."
It is this 'balance of advantage' that may hold the key on why information was not passed down to Omagh.
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
LAST May, UTV broadcast an interview with a former RUC Detective, Sergeant Johnson 'Jonty' Brown of the Criminal Investigation Branch (CID). He claimed Special Branch routinely blocked investigations and destroyed evidence in order to protect informers.
The row raging at the moment concerns the prospect that information was not passed on from Special Branch to local police about the bomb in Omagh on August 15, 1988. The Ombudsman's report published yesterday (but leaked last week) indicates that police were tipped off in plenty of time about a prospective incident.
A number of questions remain unanswered: Why was the information not passed on? Why were the public (on a carnival day) not warned about the threat? Did the security forces allow the bomb to come to Omagh to protect an agent within the Real IRA? Was the bomb allowed to come to Omagh to finally and irreparable split republicanism? These questions may never be answered however the circumstances under which Special Branch has worked since the beginning of the Troubles' raises doubts.
In a police memo issued in the 1980s police especially CID were instructed to co-operate with Special Branch, and that relationship developed into one whereby almost all work on criminal investigations had first to be cleared by Special Branch.
The memo reads, "Co-operation between Special branch and CID should be made a matter of conscious policy at all levels. Efforts must be made to develop trusted relationships and maximum liaison. Senior officers must be prepared to take a firm line where poor relationships are interfering with the efficient conduct of business, even if this entails the transfer of staff who insist on conducting business in their own way to the detriment of the overall objectives of the Force."
It is known that when a CID man received information pertaining to an attack the same day as Omagh was bombed, that information was passed to Special Branch. Special Branch assessed that information and neither it nor the outcome of that assessment was then passed on to officers on the ground.
To protect agents, the Walker Report said, "All proposals to effect planned arrests must be cleared with regional Special Branch to ensure that no agents of either the RUC or army are involved. A decision to arrest an agent must only be taken after discussion between Special Branch and CID. If agreement is not possible the matter will be referred to Assistant Chief Constable level. The charging of an agent must be the result of a conscious decision by both Special Branch and CID in which the balance of advantage has been carefully weighed."
It is this 'balance of advantage' that may hold the key on why information was not passed down to Omagh.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0875
Published Date: 13-Dec-01
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