MAGINNIS CRITICISED FOR REFERRING TO O'LOAN AS SUICIDE BOMBER
Maginnis criticised for referring to O'Loan as 'suicide bomber'
JOHN McCUSKER
UUP man slammed by Ombudsman chief
THE Police Ombudsman's office has slammed a senior member of the UUP over remarks made about the highly-critical enquiry into the police handling of the Omagh bomb investigation. Ken Maginnis, former Ulster
Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone - speaking during a live debate on the BBC's News-night programme - referred to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan as a 'suicide bomber' who had 'outlived her usefulness.'
Following the outburst, the Ombudsman's chief executive, Samuel Pollock accused Mr Maginnis of making contemptible comments which could endanger the life of Mrs O'Loan through the incitement of 'terrorists and thugs'.
In a strongly-worded letter, Mr Pollock branded the UUP security spokesman as reckless. The letter stated: "To refer to the Police Ombudsman as a 'suicide bomber' was outrageous and reckless in the extreme.
"The very live connotations which such phrases have in the context of the Middle East or the atrocities in New York constitutes a vile and slanderous attack on the person of the ombudsman the context of Northern Ireland, your remarks that she had 'outlived her usefulness', however intended, did not stop short of incitement to some of those terrorists and thugs who can so easily legitimise their murdering obsession following statements from influential mentors."
The clash intensified when Mr Maginnis - a former member of the Ulster Special Constabulary and the UDR - wrote back to Mr
Pollock indicating he was releasing the chief executive's letter to the media. In his correspondence, the UUP representative stated that he thought the public would find it "revealing in respect to your arrogance as a public servant and the intimidatory attitude adopted by the Police Ombudsman's senior staff."
Mr Maginnis invited Mrs O'Loan to sue him for defamation and told Mr Pollock he would not leave unchallenged references that as "an 'influential mentor' of terrorists and thugs,' he did not stop short of incitement to murder."
Mr Maginnis emphasised what he described as the "contempt I have for the superficial way in which the Police Ombudsman has sought to weave unrelated facts into a fantasy that brings grief to the victims' families, creates distrust across our society and scandalously damages the reputation of the RUC Special Branch."
He continued: "Does your letter not reveal senior staff who are simply not up to the task of analysing and presenting facts to advise an inexperienced ombudsman with little or no knowledge of operational police work?
"This is certainly what I deduce from your novel, if outrageous, calumny that I, as an 'influential mentor' of 'terrorists and thugs,' did not stop short of incitement to murder. That is a defamation that I, after a liftetime of public service, do not intend to allow to go unchallenged.
Questioning any difference between Mrs O'Loan's 'broad-brush' denigration of the Special Branch and the campaign by militant republicanism to have it disbanded", Mr Maginnis said Mr Pollock's letter made him wonder "what, if this is the state of mind that predominates, would have been the effect of actual terrorist pressure as the Ombudsman's report was being prepared?"
JOHN McCUSKER
UUP man slammed by Ombudsman chief
THE Police Ombudsman's office has slammed a senior member of the UUP over remarks made about the highly-critical enquiry into the police handling of the Omagh bomb investigation. Ken Maginnis, former Ulster
Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone - speaking during a live debate on the BBC's News-night programme - referred to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan as a 'suicide bomber' who had 'outlived her usefulness.'
Following the outburst, the Ombudsman's chief executive, Samuel Pollock accused Mr Maginnis of making contemptible comments which could endanger the life of Mrs O'Loan through the incitement of 'terrorists and thugs'.
In a strongly-worded letter, Mr Pollock branded the UUP security spokesman as reckless. The letter stated: "To refer to the Police Ombudsman as a 'suicide bomber' was outrageous and reckless in the extreme.
"The very live connotations which such phrases have in the context of the Middle East or the atrocities in New York constitutes a vile and slanderous attack on the person of the ombudsman the context of Northern Ireland, your remarks that she had 'outlived her usefulness', however intended, did not stop short of incitement to some of those terrorists and thugs who can so easily legitimise their murdering obsession following statements from influential mentors."
The clash intensified when Mr Maginnis - a former member of the Ulster Special Constabulary and the UDR - wrote back to Mr
Pollock indicating he was releasing the chief executive's letter to the media. In his correspondence, the UUP representative stated that he thought the public would find it "revealing in respect to your arrogance as a public servant and the intimidatory attitude adopted by the Police Ombudsman's senior staff."
Mr Maginnis invited Mrs O'Loan to sue him for defamation and told Mr Pollock he would not leave unchallenged references that as "an 'influential mentor' of terrorists and thugs,' he did not stop short of incitement to murder."
Mr Maginnis emphasised what he described as the "contempt I have for the superficial way in which the Police Ombudsman has sought to weave unrelated facts into a fantasy that brings grief to the victims' families, creates distrust across our society and scandalously damages the reputation of the RUC Special Branch."
He continued: "Does your letter not reveal senior staff who are simply not up to the task of analysing and presenting facts to advise an inexperienced ombudsman with little or no knowledge of operational police work?
"This is certainly what I deduce from your novel, if outrageous, calumny that I, as an 'influential mentor' of 'terrorists and thugs,' did not stop short of incitement to murder. That is a defamation that I, after a liftetime of public service, do not intend to allow to go unchallenged.
Questioning any difference between Mrs O'Loan's 'broad-brush' denigration of the Special Branch and the campaign by militant republicanism to have it disbanded", Mr Maginnis said Mr Pollock's letter made him wonder "what, if this is the state of mind that predominates, would have been the effect of actual terrorist pressure as the Ombudsman's report was being prepared?"
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0894
Published Date: 20-Dec-01
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