Investigation into loyalist murder of Peter Gallagher 'wholly inadequate'
Peter Gallagher, a 44-year-old father of seven from Toomebridge in Co Antrim, was shot dead at an industrial park in west Belfast in March of that year.
His family complained to the Police Ombudsman's Office about the thoroughness of the original murder investigation.
Today, the ombudsman found that although 12 people should have been of interest to investigating detectives, none had been arrested.
Marie Anderson said this was despite the fact that some were linked "by significant, and on occasion corroborative intelligence and other information".
Mr Gallagher was shot dead by elements of the west Belfast Ulster Defence Association (UDA) based around the Shankill Road known as 'C Company'.
Ms Anderson also criticised a decision to stand down surveillance on members of the gang even though at the time it had proven disruptive and the authorities knew attacks were being planned.
The intelligence focus had been switched to the activities of the IRA.
Within two days of surveillance being suspended, the UDA had murdered Mr Gallagher and 17-year-old Damien Walsh also in west Belfast.
Ms Anderson said the decision to switch the surveillance focus ought to have been re-examined in light of the intelligence picture about the heightened risk of UDA attacks.
"I am of the view that the failure to do so provided `C Company' greater opportunity to mount terrorist attacks on the nationalist community, culminating in the murders of Peter Gallagher and Damien Walsh," she said.
However, the police ombudsman said she had found no intelligence, which if acted upon by police, would have prevented Mr Gallagher's murder.
Neither was there any evidence that members of the security forces had provided information to loyalists to facilitate the attack.
No one has ever been convicted for either murder.
The ombudsman's report said the police investigation had zoned in on three principal suspects in respect of Mr Gallagher's murder.
Ballistic tests revealed that a 9mm Browning pistol used to murder him had been amongst a batch smuggled into Northern Ireland from South Africa in December 1987.
The police ombudsman said the investigations into the Gallagher and Walsh murders ought to have been linked and that the failure to do so had resulted in a "fragmented investigative approach" which had undermined both murder inquiries.
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Sunday World
6 days ago
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It started off as insults to me and my son but when I stood up to them things got more serious.' Our pictures show his windows have been broken by some sort of shot being fired through them – possibly ball bearings. Paul Beattie But Paul says he's had enough of what he describes as 'chocolate soldiers' and says he's not leaving the country this time. 'The UDA have made me homeless and they want me out of Northern Ireland but I'm going nowhere,' he says defiantly. 'I think they just want my flat – they want all the flats so they can put their own people in them. It's 2025 and these chocolate soldiers are still on the backs of the community. 'It seems to get more serious when it's bonfire and flag season and they get their loyalist heads on. It's all down to funding they get – that's all they are interested in – money. 'These goons are all about the pound coin – they're only loyalty is to the big pound note. 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'They tortured me to come back and when I told them to f*** off they decided to teach me a lesson. That's the truth.' Beattie said he joined the UVF when he was 22 after his best friend's brothers were shot and wounded in separate gun attacks. Within months of swearing allegiance to the UVF, he had worked himself up the ranks, playing a major role in the majority of the South Belfast Brigade's operations. 'I progressed very quickly up the ranks, I was very eager to get into the thick of anything that came up. I put my hand up to anything, whether that was hijacking or getting into a motor and going out to shoot someone. I was up for anything. 'I knew that by getting involved with the UVF I was taking my life in my hands. As soon as I went out on a job I know there was a good chance that I would be killed or jailed. 'I got a 14-year sentence in the end,' he said. He revealed how he would be handed details of his target and told to memorise the details before the day was out. He then gave a chilling insight into how he started the task of staking out his target before deciding when to pull the trigger. 'One of the UVF commanders would come to me with a name and an address and a montage of pictures of the target. We were told where the target worked, where he socialised and that. 'We were told to memorise the details and by the end of the day someone collected the information. I don't know where it went after that. 'Afterwards, we'd scout the guy for about three or four weeks until we decided when and where the best place was to take the person out,' he casually recalled. As soon as the operation was carried out Paul Beattie says he returned to 'normal life' immediately. 'As soon as it was over we went to the bar or straight back home. We just blended back in as if nothing had happened. There would be no mention of it again. We weren't like the likes of 'Mad Dog' Adair and that of his world.' But Beattie's murderous activities for the UVF in south Belfast finally caught up with him in 1994. Paul Beattie says he's staying put despite the threats News in 90 Seconds - August 6th He and a close friend in the UVF were arrested by the RUC after an attempted murder in west Belfast. Beattie received a total of 14 years and to this day the former UVF gunman is convinced that he was set up by someone in the organisation to be arrested. He started his lengthy sentence – 11 years for attempted murder and three for armed robbery – at Belfast's Crumlin Road prison. However, it wasn't long before he was moved to a new prison and was mixing on the wings with Johnny Adair, LVF godfather Billy Wright and Greysteel killer Torrens Knight in the Maze jail. He fell out with the UVF when he was released amid claims he was dealing drugs for the LVF and had attempted to murder loyalist Curtis Moorehead – both of which he always denied. The UDA tried to kill Beattie when a gang burst into his home shooting him a number of times in the legs – leaving him needing to walk with a stick for the rest of his life.
