The Claudy bombings of July 31, 1972, in which nine innocent people – five Catholics and four Protestants – were killed in Co Derry are now history, but they have an immediacy with the publication yesterday of the report of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson.

Outraged relatives of a notorious IRA bombing which claimed nine lives demanded a fresh investigation today after it emerged the police, British government and Catholic Church conspired to protect the prime suspect, a Catholic priest.

The Catholic Church today insisted it did not cover-up the Claudy bomb atrocity by moving a suspected terrorist priest out of the North.

A Sinn Féin mayor today backed calls for a public inquiry into one of the worst IRA atrocities during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Former British Tory party grandee Lord Whitelaw may have been involved in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice while Northern Ireland Secretary more than 30 years ago, it was claimed tonight.

A NEW inquiry is to be launched into the Claudy massacre following fresh claims that a Catholic priest planned the bomb attack in July 1972.