IF POLICE BOARD TAKES MIDDLE-WAY APPROACH ITS VIABILITY WILL BE SHATTERED - KEVIN SKELTON
If Police Board takes middle-way approach its viability will be shattered - Kevin Skelton
IF the Police Board tries to steer a middle course in its deliberations over the recent report by the Police Ombudsman, it will no longer be viable, that was the opinion of Kevin Skelton whose wife Mena was murdered in the Carnival Day bombing.
Speaking after a meeting with some of the Board members Mr Skelton said, "We put forward our case now we have to wait until February 7 to see what the Board decides to do."
He continued, "It's going to be very interesting to see what decision they reach whether they come out for O'Loan or Flanagan. I told Denis Bradley (the Vice-Chairman) that if they don't get this right that 'infant body' will never learn to crawl.
"As far as I'm concerned, they have to come out with a fair and just judgment. Nuala O'Loan did not write that report for the fun of it. She did her job, now the Policing Board must act."
Mr Skelton did not know if the Board had the power to discipline the Chief Constable, Ronnie Flanagan, however, he commented that Mr Flanagan appeared to be a law onto himself. Citing the UK practice of reviewing a murder case after 28 days, Mr Skelton said it took Ronnie Flanagan four years to institute that procedure in the police here.
He went on to say that bringing an individual in from 'across the water' to oversee the investigation would be no more than a cosmetic exercise, rather, he suggested, a team of detectives be brought in.
"Ronnie Flanagan is a politician, he tried to blind us with science but we're not that stupid that we don't know when mistakes were made.
"What sticks in my throat is why wasn't James Baxter (the local Sub-divisional commander) not told about the warning on the 4th of August?"
Mr Skelton continued, "My opinion is that there is a lot more to this than we will ever know. The bombing of Omagh was politically motivated to allow certain parties to get into the Executive. The army was always used in bomb scares, but that day it wasn't."
He concluded , "If the Police Board don't come out strongly it will only be a cosmetic exercise, that is no good. What I would like to see is a full public independent inquiry with no immunity from prosecution, and not thirty years down the line like the Bloody Sunday inquiry."
IF the Police Board tries to steer a middle course in its deliberations over the recent report by the Police Ombudsman, it will no longer be viable, that was the opinion of Kevin Skelton whose wife Mena was murdered in the Carnival Day bombing.
Speaking after a meeting with some of the Board members Mr Skelton said, "We put forward our case now we have to wait until February 7 to see what the Board decides to do."
He continued, "It's going to be very interesting to see what decision they reach whether they come out for O'Loan or Flanagan. I told Denis Bradley (the Vice-Chairman) that if they don't get this right that 'infant body' will never learn to crawl.
"As far as I'm concerned, they have to come out with a fair and just judgment. Nuala O'Loan did not write that report for the fun of it. She did her job, now the Policing Board must act."
Mr Skelton did not know if the Board had the power to discipline the Chief Constable, Ronnie Flanagan, however, he commented that Mr Flanagan appeared to be a law onto himself. Citing the UK practice of reviewing a murder case after 28 days, Mr Skelton said it took Ronnie Flanagan four years to institute that procedure in the police here.
He went on to say that bringing an individual in from 'across the water' to oversee the investigation would be no more than a cosmetic exercise, rather, he suggested, a team of detectives be brought in.
"Ronnie Flanagan is a politician, he tried to blind us with science but we're not that stupid that we don't know when mistakes were made.
"What sticks in my throat is why wasn't James Baxter (the local Sub-divisional commander) not told about the warning on the 4th of August?"
Mr Skelton continued, "My opinion is that there is a lot more to this than we will ever know. The bombing of Omagh was politically motivated to allow certain parties to get into the Executive. The army was always used in bomb scares, but that day it wasn't."
He concluded , "If the Police Board don't come out strongly it will only be a cosmetic exercise, that is no good. What I would like to see is a full public independent inquiry with no immunity from prosecution, and not thirty years down the line like the Bloody Sunday inquiry."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0942
Published Date: 31-Jan-02
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