Relatives for Justice to sue chief constable

A man who works on behalf of victims of alleged collusion in the North has asked his solicitors to sue the chief constable, Hugh Orde.

Mark Thompson was speaking after a police computer operator pleaded guilty to passing his details to a loyalist paramilitary group.

Last week, Co. Antrim man Darren Richardson pleaded guilty of possessing 30 bullets and of information likely to be of use to terrorists.

This included the names and addresses of 117 nationalists in the mid-Ulster area.

A police computer operator, Aaron Hill, had earlier pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and of using his job to collect details on nationalists in the same area.

Mark Thompson, director of the Relatives for Justice group, is to sue the police for failing to prevent his personal details being handed to loyalists.

Both Sinn Féin and the SDLP say the case is alarming and unacceptable.