Niente procedimento penale per poliziotto forse coinvolto nel massacro di Loughinisland

No prosecution for Loughinisland officer

A serving police officer who was under investigation for allegedly helping the UVF gang behind the Loughinisland massacre is not to be prosecuted, UTV can reveal.

Six men – including an 87-year-old – were killed on 18 June 1994, when two gunmen burst into the village’s Heights bar and opened fire. Five others were injured.

In total, 200 bullets were fired.

The solicitor for the families has criticised the decision by the Public Prosecution Service not to proceed.

“I consider that to be premature,” Niall Murphy told UTV, adding: “I consider that the evidence which was presented to the Police Ombudsman was sufficient to merit further arrests.”

Relatives of the victims have consistently maintained that there was security force collusion and that a number of agents working for the police were involved in the atrocity.

Last year, UTV obtained details of the initial findings of an independent investigation by the Police Ombudsman. They showed that he considered there to have been major failings in the original investigation.

A file was sent to the PPS over five months ago to consider whether to press charges against the officer involved in the case.

The reservist, who was suspended by the PSNI, had been questioned over perverting the course of justice and helping the gang make its getaway after the shooting.

In a statement, the PPS said there was “insufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction of the individual reported”.

The Ombudsman’s final report has yet to be published, as it was held back to review additional material.

But what has already emerged about the original investigation is disturbing for the victims’ relatives.

The details obtained by UTV include claims that not enough effort was made to identity the killers, that police failed to speak to people of interest, and that key forensic evidence was destroyed.

Niall Murphy said: “We’re dealing with families here who have not had the benefit of a proper police investigation, either in 1994 or indeed this century.”

SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie has called for the immediate publication of the Ombudsman’s report into the massacre.

“I had some family members who were directly connected with me who were killed in Loughinisland,” she said. “So I know what the families are thinking on this particular day”, she told UTV.

“They’re looking for closure, they’re looking for finality and above all they’re looking for the truth – and the only way that truth is going to come out is if there is an independent public inquiry into those events on that night in Loughlinisland.”

The Ombudsman’s report is expected to be published early next year.