Report critical of handling of Ludlow case

GARDAÍ failed to pursue the prime suspects in the sectarian murder of Seamus Ludlow for fear it would set a precedent for RUC inquiries in the Republic.

A report into the 1976 killing, issued by the Oireachtas Justice Committee last night, named the four men suspected of carrying out the abduction and shooting and pointed to garda failures in handling the investigation.

The probe by Justice Henry Barron names Deputy Commissioner Laurence Wren as the one who "most probably" made the decision to stop officers acting on information received from the RUC in 1979 and travelling to the North to interview the four men.