Latest news with #Toomebridge
BBC News
05-08-2025
- BBC News
Toomebridge: Police breached duty of care to teen killed in 2018
An investigation has revealed there were multiple breaches in the duty of care offered by police officers to a teenager who was killed in County Antrim in McQuillan, 19, died and Owen McFerran, 21, sustained life-changing injuries after they were hit by a van near Toomebridge at about 03:40 GMT on 20 January It happened after three police officers, a Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) paramedic and a trainee emergency technician left them alone on the Moneynick Police Ombudsman said officers failed to safeguard the couple's welfare, complete basic checks in relation to them and recognise the risk of leaving them alone together beside a road. In the following days the Police Ombudsman commenced an investigation into the conduct of the police officers who were in contact with the couple prior to the fatal NIAS and PSNI first encountered them at 02:00 GMT at a car park in Magherafelt, where Ms McQuillan was unconscious after falling a number of police called Ms McQuillan's mother to tell her she was being taken to hospital, they left the couple in the care of two ambulance same officers were called back to the car park by NIAS staff after Ms McQuillan's behaviour become then agreed to follow the ambulance to shortly before 03:00 GMT the ambulance pulled into a layby on the Moneynick Road and police assistance was called for again due to concerns about Ms McQuillan's different police officers attended and a senior officer arrived minutes a discussion between the NIAS and PSNI, the couple got out of the ambulance and were left alone at a bus shelter on the road.A short time later the PSNI received three calls about two people walking in the middle of the Moneynick Road, and then a motorist told police he had collided with two McQuillan and Mr McFerran both had high levels of alcohol in their blood at the time of the highlighted that as significant information when it came to how officers assessed the vulnerability and risk of the couple, and the decisions they made. The Police Ombudsman described communication between the police officers in attendance at the Moneynick Road and the NIAS staff as "wholly inadequate". Following an investigation into the conduct of NIAS staff, a police file was submitted to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) but it decided that no criminal charges should be brought against any of the paramedics at the proceedings found the conduct of two of the three officers who had attended amounted to gross misconduct. One officer was dismissed from the PSNI, the other was given a written warning. The dismissal was set aside on appeal, but the officer passed away before a new hearing could be held.A third officer was disciplined for failing to submit and retain her own original signed statement about the officer who amended the statement and failed to ensure the original was kept, was given advice to improve her conduct. 'More should have been done' The Ombudsman has recommended that a new policy is put in place between the PSNI and NIAS to deal with people who are intoxicated and refuse medical treatment.A programme called 'The Right Care, Right Person Programme' is currently being developed by the Police Ombudsman's Chief Executive Hugh Hume said: "More should have been done in this case to protect the extremely vulnerable young woman and man from harm.""Safeguarding vulnerable people in an operational environment is an important and frequent role for first responders. "Ineffective or ill-informed decisions can, as in this case, have dreadful and far-reaching consequences," he added."It is therefore essential that police officers and all front-line partners work together smoothly and efficiently to minimise the risk to those whose judgement and health appears impaired."
BreakingNews.ie
28-05-2025
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Investigation into loyalist murder of Peter Gallagher ‘wholly inadequate'
The investigation into the murder by loyalists of a man in Belfast in 1993 was 'wholly inadequate', the North's Police Ombudsman has found. Peter Gallagher (44), a father-of-seven from Toomebridge, Co Antrim, was shot and fatally wounded by a loyalist gunman as he arrived for work at the Westlink Enterprise Centre in west Belfast shortly before 8am on March 24th. Advertisement The UFF admitted responsibility in a call to BBC. No one has been convicted in relation to the murder of Mr Gallagher. Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson outside her office in Belfast. Photo: PA Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson said her office found that there had been 12 people who should have been of interest to the murder investigation, but none were arrested. She said some of those were linked by significant, and on occasion corroborative, intelligence and other information. Advertisement She also criticised the police decision to 'cease surveillance of members of the UDA/UFF two days before the murder, given that they had received multiple intelligence and other reports indicating that the group were actively planning attacks'. It was found that surveillance of the Shankill-road based C Company of the UDA/UFF was paused on March 22nd, with resources reallocated in response to intelligence about Provisional IRA activity. Both Mr Gallagher and 17-year-old Damien Walsh were killed before surveillance resumed on March 30th. However, the Police Ombudsman probe found no intelligence that, if acted upon by police, could have prevented Mr Gallagher's murder, and neither was there any evidence that security forces provided information to paramilitaries to facilitate the attack. Advertisement Mrs Anderson found the initial police response to Mr Gallagher's murder had been appropriate and comprehensive in nature, with a pistol found near the scene and more than 50 statements obtained. However, she said it was difficult to understand why potential persons of interest were not arrested. Mrs Anderson noted that the investigation of complaints about historical matters is challenging due to the passage of time and unavailability of relevant witnesses and documentation. However, she said her investigators had 'gathered substantial evidence and other information during the course of this investigation' and said she was grateful for the co-operation of a number of former police officers who had assisted her inquiries. Advertisement 'I believe Mr Gallagher was the innocent victim of a campaign of terror mounted by loyalist paramilitaries against the nationalist community,' she said. 'The UDA/UFF alone were responsible for Mr Gallagher's murder. 'I conclude, however, that the family were failed by a wholly inadequate murder inquiry and in particular the failure to link the murder of Damien Walsh to that of their loved one.' The victims group Relatives for Justice (RFJ) welcomed the ombudsman's report. Advertisement 'We are privileged to have supported the Gallagher family in this long and challenging journey for truth and accountability,' they said. 'While the report sheds some light on the circumstances surrounding Peter's murder, it also highlights the scale and depth of state failure. 'What emerges is not closure, but a compelling argument for a full, independent, and human rights-compliant investigation, which the state has so far failed to deliver. 'That this report may be among the last to emerge under the Police Ombudsman's now-dismantled powers is a sobering thought. The Legacy Act has shut down future investigations, closed hundreds of similar cases, and sent a clear message to families: the truth will not be tolerated. Ireland Crowd backs calls for public inquiry into 1997 mur... Read More 'The Gallagher family's long campaign reflects the experience of so many across the North – families failed not just once by the violence that took their loved ones, but again and again by the state's refusal to investigate and to tell the truth. 'RFJ stands with the Gallagher family and all families who continue to fight for justice. 'This report is not the end. It must be the basis for further action which the family will now actively consider.'
