Loughinisland pub attack investigation rules out RUC collusion
Records went missing, the car used by the terrorists should not have been destroyed the way it was, and detectives failed properly to probe the link between the shootings at Loughinisland, Co Down, and other attacks, police ombudsman Al Hutchinson said.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killings happened in the tiny village, as drinkers watched the Republic of Ireland play Italy during the 1994 World Cup.
Although the families of the victims believe there was collusion between police and the gunmen, the ombudsman said there was insufficient evidence to establish that took place.
The ombudsman said: “The police investigation of the 1994 terrorist attack in Loughinisland lacked effective leadership andinvestigative diligence and has failed the families of those killed and injured.
“There is insufficient evidence to support the view that these failures were as a result of a deliberate act by police to protect informants from the law.”
Mr Hutchinson looked at the police inquiry into the atrocity at The Heights Bar after families of the dead men criticised the original investigation by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 2006.
The investigation was prompted by claims linking at least one security force agent to the gang which carried out the attack.
In his 56-page report, Mr Hutchinson has employed a narrower definition of collusion than previous inquiries conducted by Sir John Stephens, Judge Peter Cory and former ombudsman Baroness O’Loan.
Mr Hutchinson’s office was strongly criticised by human rights group the Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) last week.
It claimed that the ombudsman’s use of varied definitions of collusion, which have altered from case to case, had left its impartiality open to question.
Last year, the ombudsman said it was time for society to begin a discussion about what constitutes collusion.
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