Report clears Orde after claims from ousted Special Branch chief

OUSTED Special Branch Commander Bill Lowry has criticised a report which cleared Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde of buckling under MI5 pressure to force him out.

A major investigation by Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan into allegations by Mr Lowry that he quit over a leaks row to appease republicans found no evidence to back his claims.

But Mr Lowry, who headed the raids against an IRA spy ring at Stormont, insisted her report did not uncover the full truth.

“I think the investigation leaves a lot to be desired. The conclusions they came to do not surprise me because this chief constable must be seen to be whiter than white with no black marks,” he said.

Mr Lowry expected the chief constable to escape unscathed in the report. “I’m disappointed but not surprised,” he said. “I still believe he was influenced by outside people to make the move. I feel I have been shafted by the organisation.”

The Belfast Special Branch chief stood down weeks after the alleged espionage plot led to the collapse of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing regime last October.

He had just been hauled before his superiors and reprimanded for an interview he gave in which it was claimed sensitive information about the Stormont raids was disclosed. In a letter of complaint to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, he claimed he was betrayed and humiliated after a phone call was made from London.

His removal was ordered by MI5 to satisfy demands by republicans incensed by the suspension of the devolved Assembly, it was claimed.

Mr Orde categorically denied coming under any pressure to get rid of him, prompting the Policing Board to call in Mrs O’Loan to probe the allegations.

Following an inquiry headed by her chief investigator, David Wood, her report concluded the complaints were not substantiated.