The police played dirty tricks and deadly games. So what’s new?

FROM comments about the Nuala O’Loan report one would think that collusion between the RUC and murderers was a particularly British phenomenon in which the police essentially gave a licence to an informant to murder people and engage in criminal activity as part of his supposed cover.

In her report, which took over three years to conclude, Nuala O’Loan noted that 40 policemen, including former commanders of the special branch, refused to cooperate with her investigation. “Others, including some serving officers, gave evasive, contradictory and, on occasions, farcical answers to questions.”

She added that “those answers indicated either a significant failure to understand the law or contempt for the law”, and she concluded that “informants were reportedly ‘baby-sat’ through interviews to help them avoid incriminating themselves”.