Independent review recommended for investigation into murdered teenager
It comes after the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland found 'numerous failings' in how police handled the case, and just eight documented contacts with police and 18-year-old Marian Beattie's family.
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It also found that the three suspects had paramilitary links, and two were former police officers.
The Police Ombudsman's chief executive, Hugh Hume, said Ms Beattie's family did not receive the service they deserved from the police.
Hadden's Quarry in Aughnacloy where the body of Marian Beattie was found (PSNI/PA)
Ms Beattie's partially clothed body was found at the bottom of a quarry.
She had been attending a charity dance at Hadden's Garage in Aughnacloy on March 30th, 1973, to listen to her brother playing in the band.
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The teenager was last seen leaving the dance with a young man just after 1am and walking in the direction of Hadden's Quarry.
No one has ever been charged or convicted over her murder.
In 2017, then Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable George Hamilton referred the case to the Police Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman investigation found that police failed to ensure that all lines of inquiry were progressed, that all suspects were interviewed, that all alibis were checked, and that discrepancies between some suspects' accounts and other evidence were examined.
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An independent review has been recommended.
Mr Hume said they found organisational and systemic failings.
'In 50-plus years after her murder, up until earlier this year, there were only eight documented contacts between the police and the family,' he said.
'It is understandable that they have lost confidence and trust in the police,' he said.
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'Although our inquiries found no evidence of individual police criminality, nor misconduct by any serving officer, the police investigation of Marian's murder has been undermined by organisational and systemic failings.'
The Ombudsman investigation also considered information from the Beattie family that police made comments on four separate occasions that led them to believe there were potential links between suspects and either police, military/security services or paramilitaries.
They found while there were no police records of this being discussed, available information suggests 'it is more likely than not that such comments had been made'.
The Ombudsman's Office also said it found that three suspects had paramilitary links, and two were former police officers.
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In addition, while clear lines of inquiry were outstanding in relation to the suspects known to have potential paramilitary and police connections, this was not unique to these suspects.
The investigation was described as being unable to establish whether or not these connections had any impact upon the police investigation.
Mr Hume said they hope the independent review they have recommended may bring Ms Beattie's killer to justice.
'Although our investigation has found significant errors and omissions during the police inquiries into Marian's murder, it is my hope that the independent review we have recommended will ensure that every effort is made to uncover the truth about her murder, and to finally bring her killer, if still alive, to justice,' he said.
He added that while Ms Beattie was murdered in 1973, lessons of relevance to current policing could be learned.
'At the time of Marian's murder the police faced significant policing challenges, with hundreds of murders each year being attributed to 'the Troubles', and that context was taken into account during our inquiries,' he said.
'Nevertheless, we must learn from past errors and omissions, particularly if we are to properly address the problem of violence against women and girls in local society. Northern Ireland has the second-highest levels of femicide in western Europe.
'Unfortunately, the Police Ombudsman has found a similar lack of investigative rigour and pre-emptive conclusions in some recent PSNI femicide investigations.
'Police Ombudsman investigations are critical to learning lessons, and it is my hope that our recommendation for an independent review will help to ensure that future police inquiries into Marian's murder are comprehensive and focused.'
Belfast solicitor Darragh Mackin. Photo: Niall Carson/PA
Solicitor Darragh Mackin, acting for Ms Beattie's family, said the report should 'serve as a lightning strike reminder of the need for urgent and immediate action to ensure no other women are systematically failed by the very state that should protect them'.
He said the family 'now look forward to engaging with the Chief Constable in the weeks ahead'.
'The facts of this investigation speak for themselves. In 50 years the police contacted this family a mere eight times. Such blatant disregard for the family of Marian is indicative of the inherent unenthusiastic approach adopted,' he said.
'Today's revelations confirm that three suspects had paramilitary links and two were former police officers. The family have always believed that such connections have played a direct role in the obfuscation and procrastination adopted, in failing to investigate Marian's murder.'
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He went on: 'Marian's report confirms that women in this jurisdiction have not been safe for five decades.
'Today's report should serve as a lightning strike reminder of the need for urgent and immediate action to ensure no other women are systematically failed by the very state that should protect them.
'Gender based violence had no place in society in 1973 and it has no place in 2025. In Marian's memory, it is time for action.'
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Anton spent every day in the trial, translating everything into French and relaying it to Christophe's family. 'No justice' Bendou and Kocher were convicted of murder but disappointingly Wagner was cleared and set free. Anton and Steve said they were 'absolutely gutted' that only two of the three were convicted as 'everything pointed to three men being involved'. Anton recalls Christophe's sister Aurelie looking at him in court after the verdict and saying in French, 'Wagner got away with it. How's that justice?' Over the months that followed, Aurelie's comments began to 'gnaw' away at him. 'It was a conversation I had in a pub one night with one of my colleagues from the team saying 'This isn't right. I wonder if given the relationship I've developed with Bendou, he can give us something that might allow us to have another crack at Wagner''. 'So we then had to persuade the senior officers that this was of value because these inquiries take tremendous amounts of time, resources and money. 'And thankfully Cheshire Police gave us a second shot.' Prison confession Anton went to see Bendou in prison and tried to persuade him to tell the whole story in its entirety. 'At first he said he would talk if he could get something out of it – like a transfer to France so he could be closer to his family,' Anton said. 'But I said 'No you either tell us because it's the right thing to do or you don't'. 'And he agreed, he allowed us to access his records from the law firm that represented him. 'And we start to learn things about Christophe's murder that we did not know during the initial investigation. 'Bendou describes in graphic detail how he had hit the victim's head with a hammer but the hammer had slipped in his hand with the blood and it was the claw end that went into his skull. I remember the room closing in on me and I started feeling a bit queasy. Retired inspector Anton Sullivan 'You could see distinctive hammer claw injuries in Christophe's skull. 'The first one, they miss and it hits the Formica top that later panicked Kocher painted over. Then we go back and find the exact divot in the Formica that forensically matches the hammer. 'Then he tells us when he pulled the the hammer out of Christophe's skull, because it was stuck there was a jet of blood that went all over the walls and the ceiling. That's why Kocher decided to paint the kitchen red because he thought it would help mask the colour. 'Also as he's pulling the claw out of Christophe's skull, Wagner is looking over his shoulder because they're in this killing frenzy, and he cracks Wagner on the side of the face by accident with the blunt end of the hammer, giving him a big bruise.' 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A housemate, Dominik Kocher, sends a fake email to Borgye's family to make them believe he is safe. November 2012: The three men involved in the murder, Dominik Kocher, Sebastian Bendou, and Manuel Wagner, move from Ellesmere Port to Dumfries, Scotland. April 13, 2013: Sebastian Bendou confesses to the crime to the police, initially claiming he acted alone in self-defence. April 17, 2013: Wagner and Kocher are questioned as witnesses. May 2013: Bendou changes his statement, revealing Kocher's and Wagner's involvement. Both are re-arrested on suspicion of murder. July 2013: Kocher and Bendou are charged with murder, and Wagner is charged with two lesser offenses. March 2014: Kocher is convicted of murder. May 2014: Bendou is convicted of murder and sentenced to life with a minimum of 14 years. June 2014: An appeal to increase Kocher's sentence is rejected; he is to serve life with a minimum of 23 years. September 2016: Wagner is charged again with murder. June 12, 2017: Wagner's trial begins. June 28, 2017: Wagner is convicted of murder and given a life sentence with a minimum of 16 years. 'I remember sitting in the room as Bendou described murdering Christophe in graphic detail and by this point I know his family and it's heartbreaking to listen to. 'You've got to have this professional attitude, but I remember the room closing in on me and I started feeling a bit queasy. 'I said to my colleague who's a highly experienced murder investigator ''How do you sit there and listen to that?' 'He said 'I've dealt with death all my life in the job but I've never had anybody sit there and tell me, as if I'm telling you how to make a cake, how they killed somebody with a hammer and a knife and how they coerced him into being in that position. 'It's actually quite unusual to get somebody to openly admit how they killed somebody.' Eventually, the exhaustive second investigation concluded and Wagner was convicted of murder and jailed for 16 years on June 28, 2017. The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict. Christophe's three murderers were all finally in prison. Steve, who has a career spanning 30 years of murders across London and the North West, says it's one of the most unusual cases he's worked on. 'As a standalone single victim, what Christophe went through is absolutely horrendous. Plus the dynamic between the three of them is just definitely the weirdest thing I've ever been involved in," he said. For Anton, he was just glad the family finally had closure. 'I always felt that this was a story that needed to be told so that there was some legacy for the family, for the victim, and that they were remembered," he said. 'It's a case that will stay with me for a long time. I've left the police this year and I retired in order to help tell this story. 'If it hadn't have been for Bendou coming forward, I think Christophe would still be there to this day, I'm convinced of it. 'And if somebody had written this story as a drama purely fictitious, you'd say 'No it's too far-fetched, I don't get the plot line'. 'Truth is always stranger than fiction and in 32 years of policing I've seen the worst of people and I've seen the best of people and this case went from one polar opposite to the other. 'But the stoicism and the strength of Christophe's family and the lengths which police officers dedicated their time and effort to seeking justice really stay with me from this case."
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