DUP justice spokesman Ian Paisley Jr says the Police Board has already made up its mind to reject his call for an independent inquiry into a special branch chief's claim that he was forced out to appease republicans.

The former head of the PSNI Special Branch in Belfast has claimed that he was forced out of his job for investigating alleged IRA intelligence gathering at Stormont.

A Special Branch commander who claims he was forced to quit has demanded that a special investigator be called in to probe his allegations, it emerged tonight.

Top Special Branch commander Bill Lowry’s claim that he was forced to quit are now being probed by the Northern Ireland Policing Board, it emerged today.

Former Special Branch chief Bill Lowry claimed he was “humiliated” when he was forced to stand down from the North’s police service, it emerged tonight.

The Democratic Unionist Party has accused the North's policing board of trying to cover up the reason why a PSNI Special Branch commander quit last month.

Urgent efforts to increase police patrols in Northern Ireland have been hit by a dismal response from Catholics to a new recruitment drive, Chief Constable Hugh Orde disclosed today.

The brakes should be applied on the Government’s police reforms in the light of criticism of them by a senior RUC officer, an anti-Good Friday Agreement unionist claimed today.

A senior RUC officer in the North has attacked the British Government's policing reforms.