POLICING BOARD'S APPOINTMENT OF EXPERT IS WASTE OF TIME - GALLAGHER
Policing Board's appointment of expert is waste of time - Gallagher
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
a.mullan@ulsterherald.com
THE one thing that most of the families of the victims of the Omagh bombing want was the one thing that the Policing Board could not grant them when the Board met with the families in South West College on Wednesday morning in what was a 'heated' meeting.
The press was allowed in briefly, to take photographs, but thereafter, journalists were excluded, despite the fact that the victims' families said they had no objection to the press sitting in on the meeting.
Speaking after the meeting, Michael Gallagher said that it was hard to believe the depth of ignorance and the general state of uninformedness amongst members of the Board. However, he said that they were left in no doubt as to what the families wanted and as to what the Board's own responsibilities were.
"It was a tough meeting for the Policing Board. We were surprised at how ill-informed many of the Board members were... After the Nuala O'Loan report they appointed two senior Merseyside officers to quality assure the investigation. Our question to them was, if that was the case how come we ended up in the mess we are in now? They didn't really have an answer to that."
He added, "The Hoey case was part of the discussion. Our question to them about that was why was a case wasn't strong enough to secure a conviction, allowed to go to court in the first place.
"They (Board members) talked about the low copy number DNA, but it's our opinion that low copy DNA shouldn't have been used in the first place. The people who developed low copy DNA knew what its weakness was that it is easily contaminated and this evidence wasn't gathered in such a way, that the proper precautions were taken, because low copy DNA testing didn't come into being until 1999.
"It was no fault of the officers who gathered the evidence at that time because they couldn't have foreseen how important it was going to be in the future. But where the problem lay with those who decided to run with that evidence, even though it wasn't up to standard. All of these issues including the evidence of the two officers who lied under oath were discussed.
"Above all we told them we told them that we disagreed with the way that they had chosen to go forward. We feel that another independent person to examine the evidence is not what we need. We have had a long history of investigations that lead us nowhere.
"The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland and the Republic has failed the families, and there is no way forward whatsoever, we have exhausted all of the opportunities to us, the only option left is the cross border public inquiry.
"The Board said it had taken the decision to appoint an outside officer to decide if there are any further evidential opportunities left.
"We told them this has been well tested and we see no value in it. We see it is time wasting and obstructing the families in the demands for a cross border inquiry."
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
a.mullan@ulsterherald.com
THE one thing that most of the families of the victims of the Omagh bombing want was the one thing that the Policing Board could not grant them when the Board met with the families in South West College on Wednesday morning in what was a 'heated' meeting.
The press was allowed in briefly, to take photographs, but thereafter, journalists were excluded, despite the fact that the victims' families said they had no objection to the press sitting in on the meeting.
Speaking after the meeting, Michael Gallagher said that it was hard to believe the depth of ignorance and the general state of uninformedness amongst members of the Board. However, he said that they were left in no doubt as to what the families wanted and as to what the Board's own responsibilities were.
"It was a tough meeting for the Policing Board. We were surprised at how ill-informed many of the Board members were... After the Nuala O'Loan report they appointed two senior Merseyside officers to quality assure the investigation. Our question to them was, if that was the case how come we ended up in the mess we are in now? They didn't really have an answer to that."
He added, "The Hoey case was part of the discussion. Our question to them about that was why was a case wasn't strong enough to secure a conviction, allowed to go to court in the first place.
"They (Board members) talked about the low copy number DNA, but it's our opinion that low copy DNA shouldn't have been used in the first place. The people who developed low copy DNA knew what its weakness was that it is easily contaminated and this evidence wasn't gathered in such a way, that the proper precautions were taken, because low copy DNA testing didn't come into being until 1999.
"It was no fault of the officers who gathered the evidence at that time because they couldn't have foreseen how important it was going to be in the future. But where the problem lay with those who decided to run with that evidence, even though it wasn't up to standard. All of these issues including the evidence of the two officers who lied under oath were discussed.
"Above all we told them we told them that we disagreed with the way that they had chosen to go forward. We feel that another independent person to examine the evidence is not what we need. We have had a long history of investigations that lead us nowhere.
"The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland and the Republic has failed the families, and there is no way forward whatsoever, we have exhausted all of the opportunities to us, the only option left is the cross border public inquiry.
"The Board said it had taken the decision to appoint an outside officer to decide if there are any further evidential opportunities left.
"We told them this has been well tested and we see no value in it. We see it is time wasting and obstructing the families in the demands for a cross border inquiry."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1921
Published Date: 31-Jan-08
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