Northern police federation cuts ties with Ombudsman

A body representing rank-and-file police officers in the North has cut its ties with the Police Ombudsman's Office.

The Police Federation said it would not be inviting Nuala O'Loan to its events in future, nor would it take part in conferences or forums organised by her office.

The body is not recommending that members boycott her investigations but is protesting at alleged smears on the RUC and its successor.

Federation chairman Terry Spence said: "She has an unfettered remit to investigate the past 30 years and we have to ask, on the basis of what's been achieved so far, where is this all going to lead, other than an undermining of public confidence in politics and policing?"

Mrs O'Loan's office has conducted a number of high-profile investigations, including the Omagh bomb inquiry and allegations of security force collusion in up to 16 murders by a UVF gang in north Belfast.

"So far her office has cost over £40m (€58.5m) and secured the conviction of only six police officers, two of whom pleaded guilty anyway," Mr Spence added.

"Her office has managed to give the impression, on the back of a report, that there was widespread collusion among the RUC with the paramilitaries, which is clearly a nonsense but deeply upsetting to RUC officers."

The Office often makes recommendations short of prosecution for change within the Police Service.

In January, Mrs O'Loan said north Belfast loyalist Mark Haddock had colluded with the RUC in up to 16 murders including that of Raymond McCord Jnr, 22, who was battered to death and dumped in a quarry near Belfast in November 1997.

She also investigated the case of taxi driver Sharon McKenna, shot at the home of an elderly friend in 1992 in north Belfast.

The federation, which represents 9,000 officers, rejected the report as lacking in evidence.