Murdered sergeant’s family welcomes ombudsman’s probe

The family of a Catholic Royal Ulster Constabulary officer whose murder is at the centre of a Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman investigation into possible police misconduct today hoped the probe would ‘‘uncover the truth’’ about his murder.

Tom Campbell, whose 49-year-old father, Sergeant Joe Campbell, was shot dead in February 1977 as he locked up the small police station in Cushendall, County Antrim, welcomed Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s decision to investigate RUC actions before and after the killing.

Sergeant Campbell’s family and human rights campaigners believe he was a victim of collusion between members of the security forces and the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force.

Mr Campbell said: ‘‘Our family are very happy that the Ombudsman has taken this case on.

‘‘We think that an impartial investigation is overdue into the circumstances of my father’s death.

‘‘We hope that the truth as far as possible will come out as a result of this.’’

Mr Campbell confirmed that his family had passed fresh information to Mrs O’Loan’s team, which investigates the actions of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the RUC, its predecessor.

But he did not feel it was appropriate to make the information public.

The family, he said, had over a number of years come to the conclusion that his father was a victim of collusion ‘‘at several levels’’.

He told BBC Radio Ulster that things had come to light which the family did not feel were followed up or investigated at the time of the murder.

Things which happened before the murder also had a strong bearing on the case.

‘‘Without second guessing what the Ombudsman thinks, I think they realise that there are certainly grounds for an investigation to be carried out,’’ he said.

‘‘We hope that will be thorough, and we hope that the findings of the Ombudsman will be acted upon when they come to their conclusion.’’

Information compiled by the human rights organisation, British Irish Rights Watch, and by the Sunday People newspaper has been handed to the Ombudsman.

A spokesman for Mrs O’Loan said a preliminary investigation had been carried out on the basis of the information supplied, and was now being extended.

‘‘We are now investigating certain aspects of events before and after the murder which relate to possible police misconduct.

‘‘We are not, as yet, investigating Sergeant Campbell’s murder but only the circumstances surrounding it.’’

Allegations of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries have dogged the British army and members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary for many years.

A television programme last week claimed that British army intelligence’s Forces Research Unit attempted to direct loyalist paramilitary targeting during the Troubles through the agent Brian Nelson, but that the work resulted in the deaths of many innocent Catholics.

The BBC’s Panorama programme also alleged an RUC officer encouraged two Ulster Freedom Fighters gunmen to kill solicitor Pat Finucane in his north Belfast home in February 1989.