Families want UVF handlers prosecuted
Families of UVF murder victims are demanding to know why no police officers have been prosecuted over the handling of loyalist informers – five years after a number of UVF men in north Belfast were exposed as police agents.
Back in January 2007, then Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan published the findings of her probe into the activities of the UVF’s Mount Vernon unit and reported that many members were informers.
“I want closure, I want justice – I’d like to see the handlers brought to book for their actions,” Paul McKenna, whose sister was murdered by the UVF in 1993, told UTV.
“At present, there doesn’t seem to be any willingness from the authorities to get us any closure.”
The Historical Enquiries Team had been tasked with heading the investigations under the banner of Operation Ballast – but control was later to be handed back to the PSNI, in Operation Stafford.
“That’s not what we wanted,” Mr McKenna said.
Kieran Fox, whose father was murdered by the UVF in 1994, added: “We’d build up a trust with the HET that we want to get results but, five years on, it’s like two steps forward and five back.”
The first UVF supergrass trial in decades is currently before the courts, but the victims’ families fear the investigation into alleged police misconduct has stalled.
“When Nuala O’Loan’s report came out, we thought that was the end of cover-ups, but it seems to be going backwards,” Mr Fox said.
The Police Ombudsman’s office has confirmed a number of officers are under investigation – but refused to say how many or if any had been arrested.
A meeting between the families and Ombudsman’s Office investigators will be held on Tuesday.
