Files on police accused of corruption sent to prosecutor

The SDLP has welcomed confirmation that the Police Ombudsman has passed files on six special branch officers in the North, to the Public Prosecution Service.

The Ombudsman has been examining claims of police collusion in a series of loyalist murders.

Allegedly, the police officers were involved in cover-ups of about a dozen loyalist shootings of both Catholics and Protestants.

The report is highly critical of a number of special branch offices who protected a loyalist because he was providing them with information.

This loyalist, who was a member of the UVF, personally murdered eight people over a seven year period and it is also believed that he was involved in the bombing of Sinn Fein offices in Monaghan in 1997.

The SDLP said they hope that the report will shine some light on police corruption in the North and make it known that police must never be allowed to break the law themselves.