Watchdog probing police misconduct claims identifies ‘collusive behaviours’

Family of those killed during the Troubles by loyalist paramilitaries in south Belfast pose together holding images of their loved ones and copies of the Police Ombudsman’s report into police handling of loyalist paramilitaries murders and attempted murders in south Belfast in the period 1990 to 1998, at Shaftesbury Recreation Centre, Ormeau Road, Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)

A watchdog investigating claims of police misconduct in relation to a series of loyalist paramilitary murders during the Troubles has identified significant failures and evidence of “collusive behaviours”.

Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Marie Anderson said she was “deeply concerned” by the scale and scope of the failings she had uncovered in her probe into murders and attempted murders carried out by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in south Belfast in the 1990s.