The Garda Inspectorate today insisted there was no need for a fully-armed police force despite the growing threat of gangland violence.

Serving and retired officers lost confidence in the North’s outgoing Police Ombudsman, rank-and-file members said today.

The North's Police Ombudsman has concluded that the RUC failed to properly investigate threats made against Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson.

The North's Police Ombudsman is calling for extra funding from the British government to help her office carry out its inquiries.

The new Police Ombudsman in the North is already attracting differing responses from nationalist and unionist politicians.

A group of retired police officers in the North has accused the Police Ombudsman of wrongly impugning their reputations in her recent report on collusion.

A body representing rank-and-file police officers in the North has cut its ties with the Police Ombudsman's Office.

The relatives of four people murdered after alleged security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in the North are suing the police.

The Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle is meeting in Dublin today, following its Ard Fheis last week, which voted to support the PSNI.

The DUP is defending the senior police officers who refused to co-operate with the Police Ombudsman's inquiry into collusion between the RUC and loyalist paramilitaries.

The family of a murdered Sinn Féin councillor are due to meet staff from the Police Ombudsman's office in the North later today to discuss their ongoing campaign for justice.

The British government today ruled out calls for a public inquiry in the North into allegations that Special Branch officers colluded in covering up murders by loyalist informers.

No police officers are to be charged in connection with their involvement in a collusion scandal in which loyalist paramilitary informers were allowed to commit up to 15 murders in the North, it was confirmed today.

A report into Special Branch officers' involvement with a loyalist paramilitary gang by the North's Police Ombudsman will make uncomfortable reading, Northern Secretary Peter Hain admitted today.

Police in the North are to become the first force to receive new powers to seize documents and files as part of a crackdown on serious crime.

A 46-year-old man has been arrested in England by police probing two murders involving alleged security force collusion.

The North's Police Ombudsman has concluded that investigative errors and a lack of police officers in Larne, Co Antrim led to significant failings in an attempted murder inquiry.

The IRA has released a statement claiming that Jean McConville, who was abducted, murdered and secretly buried in 1972, did pass information to security forces.

A son of the North's Police Ombudsman is recovering in hospital after he was beaten during an assault in north Belfast this morning.

A man and a woman questioned about the murders of six men who were shot dead as they watched the 1994 World Cup in a pub were tonight released without charge.

The North's Police Ombudsman has found no evidence to support claims that an off-duty RUC officer shot and killed a 16-year-old girl in Co Armagh 15 years ago.

“A STRAIGHT arrow guy,” is how one veteran US Sinn Féin sympathiser, Maureen McCullogh, continues to describe Denis Donaldson, the central figure in what must rank as Ireland’s most unusual spy story.

EVERY Wednesday I look forward to reading Rónán Mullen’s latest attempt at justifying the Catholic Church. I often wonder if he is capable of criticising his Church, or does his faith blind him to reality.

The North's Police Ombudsman has criticised the PSNI in relation to an incident two years ago in which a 28-year-old man was crushed by security gates at a police station in Co Tyrone.

THE family of Robert McCartney yesterday indicated they could launch an appeal to raise funds for a civil action against his killers.

MARTIN McGUINNESS last night became the first senior Sinn Féin figure to publicly admit that IRA members were involved in the murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast.

A majority of PSNI officers have little confidence in the North's Police Ombudsman, according to a report published today by a committee of British MPs.

The North's Police Ombudsman has ruled that the RUC did not conduct a proper investigation into a murder in Newry, Co Down, 15 years ago.

A PSNI paperwork blunder led to the collapse of public order case against a senior Orangeman, according to a report by the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan.

A POLICE raid on Sinn Féin offices at Stormont which led to the suspension of devolution in Northern Ireland had to take place for the sake of democracy, it was claimed yesterday.

THE North’s Forensic Science Agency came under fire last night after seven police officers were acquitted over the death of a joyrider.

The North’s Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, has launched an investigation into the controversial murder of a Catholic RUC officer in Cushendall, Co Antrim, 27 years ago.

THE RUC investigation into the 1997 murder of 61-year-old Derryman Sean Brown was seriously deficient, "incomplete and inadequate", Northern Ireland's police ombudsman said yesterday.

The North's Police Ombudsman has defended the use of plastic bullets against loyalists involved in last year's Drumcree protest in Portadown, Co Armagh.

A survey has found that 70% of Protestants have confidence in the North's Police Ombudsman, a 19% rise on a similar survey carried out last year.

The North's Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, has expressed her concern at the number of solicitors being threatened by police officers.

THE white coffin was so tiny it sat snugly in the arms of one police officer who carried it easily from hearse to graveside.

Families of the 29 people killed in the Omagh bombing are demanding a public inquiry as Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan defended his officers' handling of the investigation.

A warning of Real IRA activity three days before the Omagh bombing never reached Special Branch.

Fine Gael has criticised the presence of two gardai at today's press conference by the Chief Constable of the North's police force to give his response to the Ombudsman's report on Omagh.

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Nuala O'Loan, has said that the Omagh bomb warning was not handled correctly.

The North's Police Ombudsman has upheld a complaint against the RUC linked to an attack on a man by officers more than 32 years ago, it was announced today.

Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan is investigating claims that security forces had prior knowledge of the Omagh bomb.

The RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the North's Police Ombudsman are at odds over who ordered recent arrests in the Robert Hamill murder case.