Hamill inquiry to go ahead 'at earliest opportunity'

An inquiry into police inaction in the North will go ahead at the earliest opportunity, the panel said tonight.

The Robert Hamill team won a House of Lords ruling today which could open the way for full hearings into the 1997 killing of Robert Hamill, 25, by a loyalist mob.

The victim, from Portadown, Co Armagh, was beaten to death by a loyalist mob in the centre of the town when police allegedly watched and failed to intervene.

A total of 20 retired Royal Ulster Constabulary officers claimed they would be in fear of their lives if identified and have fought a decision by inquiry chairman Edwin Jowitt’s team that they appear unscreened.