Hain rules out public enquiry into collusion

The British government today ruled out calls for a public inquiry in the North into allegations that Special Branch officers colluded in covering up murders by loyalist informers.

Following the release of a damning report by Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan which claimed Special Branch failed to act against informers in an Ulster Volunteer Force gang who may have carried out as many as 15 murders, Northern Secretary Peter Hain said he hoped it would help bring those responsible to the courts.

However, he rejected calls from the family of Raymond McCord Jnr - whose 1997 murder on the outskirts of Belfast sparked the Ombudsman's investigation - for an independent judicial inquiry into all allegations of collusion.

"I have heard calls for the setting up of a public inquiry to look into these terrible events," he said.

"There is nothing at all to suggest that such an inquiry will uncover any new or additional evidence that has not already been unearthed by the Police Ombudsman during the painstaking investigation conducted over the past three years.

"I know that this is a view shared by Nuala O'Loan.

"And of course the work of the HET (the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Historical Enquiries Team) is ongoing."

Mr Hain said the Ombudsman's report had shone a light on a dark and murky period in the history of the North, and he paid tribute to Mrs O'Loan and her team.

"The serious failings that have been exposed within parts of the RUC Special Branch at the time of the murder of Raymond McCord Jnr and for a period thereafter cannot be justified and no-one should attempt to justify them," he said.

"They should never have happened.

"Those involved - a small number of officers - failed in their fundamental duty to protect the community.

"That was in marked and stark contrast to the thousands of courageous RUC men and women who behaved throughout the most dangerous and difficult times with professionalism and integrity."

However, the Northern Secretary said it was important to remember the policing culture in the North has now changed.

"As the report acknowledges, policing in Northern Ireland has changed radically since the Patten reforms were implemented and new robust systems are in place to ensure that the failures of the past will not and cannot be repeated," he said.

"The Ombudsman's report strengthens and reinforces these.

"Hugh Orde has accepted in full the recommendations where they relate to the PSNI. Indeed many have already been implemented

"The failings set out in this report, serious as they were, lie in the past and should not cloud our view of policing today where there has been a fundamental reform of police intelligence gathering and new arrangements established for the sharing of information across the PSNI."