Ex-RUC chief 'unaware' of Nelson files

Former RUC chief constable Ronnie Flanagan was unaware that Special Branch officers kept files on solicitor Rosemary Nelson, the public inquiry into her murder heard today.

The North's former police chief was giving evidence to the inquiry into the murder of the 40-year-old, who died in a loyalist bomb attack in 1999 amid allegations of security force collusion.

Flanagan gave a statement to the inquiry noting that he did not believe files were kept on the solicitor, but today he said he was surprised to hear their existence had been detected by the inquiry.

“I am not aware of any files, paper or otherwise, that have been kept on Mrs Nelson,” Flanagan said in his statement to the inquiry, read out during today’s hearing.

“My impression at the time was that Rosemary Nelson was a lawyer who was doing her job.”

But today lead counsel to the inquiry Rory Phillips QC told Flanagan that evidence gathered by the inquiry had shown that Mrs Nelson had a Special Branch number, signifying the existence of files on her.

On the issue of files being kept on Mrs Nelson, Flanagan replied: “I would have been surprised that there would.”

He added: “I had no personal reason to understand... that there would be any material that would make appropriate the creation of such a file.”

Flanagan said he had become aware of the existence of such files only after recently reviewing evidence already given to the inquiry.

The former police chief began three days of evidence at the inquiry today.

Mrs Nelson, a mother of three, had driven only yards from her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh, when the device beneath her car exploded on March 15 1999.

The attack was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, but this was seen as a cover name for larger loyalist paramilitary groups.

Mrs Nelson ran her own legal practice in Lurgan and was largely unknown outside the area until the mid-1990s when she took on a series of cases that were to attract wide attention.

Lurgan republican Colin Duffy was twice cleared of murder charges under her representation, while Mrs Nelson also represented the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition in the bitter Drumcree marching dispute.

She also represented the family of Catholic man Robert Hamill, killed in a sectarian attack in Portadown while police were parked nearby.

Mrs Nelson began to receive threats from loyalists as her profile grew, but she also claimed that police officers interviewing clients accused of republican activities had issued threats against her.

Concerns for her safety were also raised by United Nations (UN) official Param Cumaraswamy, who monitored the treatment of lawyers and compiled reports into allegations of security force intimidation of defence lawyers in the North.