‘Britain failed in its duty to protect slain solicitor’

THE British state failed to protect high-profile solicitor Rosemary Nelson before her murder by loyalists in the North but did not collude in her killing, a major public inquiry has found.

The hard-hitting report found no evidence of a direct role in the car bomb attack 12 years ago, but it said it could not rule out the possibility of involvement by a rogue element of the security forces.

The inquiry, which cost £46.5 million (€53.4m), concluded that Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers publicly abused and assaulted the solicitor, and it believed police intelligence on the 40-year-old mother of three had leaked out.