Where is the proof of murderous collusion between RUC and UVF?

A BELFAST friend was murdered by paramilitaries a few years ago. He died an hour before we were due to meet for a drink. No-one was ever charged, let alone convicted. Nor will they be.

His family, like hundreds of others North and South, will never have the satisfaction of seeing justice done. That is something they have gradually, painfully had to accept. Not being the campaigning type, my friend has just become another statistic.

I suspect few people in the police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s office even know his name. Such is the tragedy of the Northern Troubles: only one-third of the 2,000-odd murders committed by republicans, and only half of the loyalist murders, led to the perpetrators being brought to book.