North's DPP to stand down

The Director of Public Prosecutions in the North is to retire in September, a spokeswoman said today.

Alasdair Fraser, 63, steps down after 21 years as the most senior member of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

He announced his decision following the successful devolution of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast and days before publication of the Saville Report into the killing of 14 civil rights protesters during Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972.

The DPP said: “With the successful devolution of policing and justice and the roll-out of the Public Prosecution Service as a regional organisation, I consider now is the right time to pass the onerous responsibilities of director to my successor.”

Fraser was appointed DPP for the North in April 1989.

Fraser said: “In my view, the rule of law has been well served both by the Department of the Director of Public Prosecutions and more recently by the Public Prosecution Service.

“I am confident that the Public Prosecution Service will continue to provide the community which it serves with a first- class independent service.

“I am most grateful to all my colleagues for their courage and integrity in carrying out their duties in difficult and challenging circumstances over the last 21 years.”

Born in Glasgow in 1946, he moved to the North in 1950. Having studied law at Trinity College Dublin, he was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1970.

He joined the Department of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as it was known then, in 1973 and became deputy director in 1988. He now oversees 570 staff.

Upon devolution of security powers in April this year, the PPS became accountable to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Following criticism of the PPS’s handling of the prosecution of those behind the murder of North Belfast schoolboy Thomas Devlin, new Justice Minister at Stormont David Ford intends to review accountability arrangements at the PPS.

The only man ever accused of the Omagh bomb killings in 1998, Sean Hoey, walked free following court criticism of how evidence was handled by police.

However, the PPS was responsible for securing the conviction of notable killers like Trevor Hamilton who murdered a Tyrone pensioner.

During the conflict the PPS also brought about the conviction of IRA Shankill Road killer Sean Kelly who left a bomb in a fish shop in 1993. Nine people died.