Latest news with #policeombudsman
BBC News
20 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
John Devine: Family 'failed' by RUC investigation says Ombudsman
The Police Ombudsman has concluded that a 1989 investigation into the sectarian murder of a Catholic man in west Belfast was "seriously defective".Father-of-three John Devine, 37, was shot dead by loyalists at his home in Fallswater ombudsman said a man prosecuted for the murder 30 years later should have been arrested and interviewed as a suspect at the Rea died in 2023 while standing trial. His prosecution arose after he gave interviews to an oral history project at Boston College. The original Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) investigation was reviewed by the ombudsman, Marie Anderson, and the findings published on Anderson is critical of the RUC arrest strategy – it only took action against two people on a list of 36 persons of also found no evidence it warned him his name and date of birth were on a document found in "two separate loyalist paramilitary intelligence caches" recovered by police in 1987 and 1988. 'Failed by police' Although the document had a different address and photo, the police did not consider the potential risk to Mr Devine, including whether a 'threat to life' warning was appropriate."Given the available evidence and other information gathered during my investigation, I consider the original RUC investigation to be seriously defective, and not capable of leading to the identification of those responsible," said Mrs report identifies that house-to-house and witness enquiries were not adequately pursued, leading to missed opportunities to gather evidence, and that all available forensic opportunities were not fully Anderson added: "I believe that John Devine was the victim of a campaign of sectarian violence mounted against the nationalist community."Loyalist paramilitaries alone were responsible for his murder."Given the significant failings in the RUC investigation, I believe that Mr Devine's family were failed by police in their search for the truth regarding the perpetration of his murder."
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
PSNI complete investigation after alleged incident at Police Ombudsman's home
An investigation following an alleged domestic incident at the home of Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson has been completed, with a file of evidence sent to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).The investigation was carried out by West Midlands Police at the request of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).It followed an alleged incident at Mrs Anderson's County Down home in September 2023. At the time, she faced calls from unionist parties to temporarily step aside, but she remained in post. A PPS spokeswoman said it had received an investigation file reporting one individual for potential offences of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office following the police investigation. "All the available evidence in the investigation file will be carefully considered by a senior public prosecutor and the test for prosecution applied," she added."A decision will issue in due course."All PPS decision-making is independent, impartial and in line with the code for prosecutors."As ombudsman, Mrs Anderson's office oversees investigations into police took up the position in 2019 and the fixed term of office is for seven years.
