Collusion and Coverup Found By Police Ombudsman

In a report published yesterday, Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson said there was evidence of “collusive behavior” between the police and killers in the murder of 19 people and attempted murder of two others over four years in the northwest region of Ireland.

Those targetted and killed included Sinn Féin Councillors and party members, Irish Republicans, and members of the nationalist community.

The report found that:

• The weapons used in ten of the attacks had been imported and distributed to the killers with the knowledge of the police and British Military

• The intelligence used for the attacks had been supplied by the British Miltary

• The police failed to notify those targeted that they were living under threat.

• The killer gangs included members of the British Army and police agents.

• British Army members of the killer gangs attended intelligence briefings

• Records relating to the role of police agents suspected in the killings had been destroyed

This report again demonstrates that collusion was not the work of “rogue elements” but British military policy in Ireland.

The British Government plan to bring forward legislation that ends all judicial investigations and continues the coverup.

Gerry Kelly MLA (Sinn Féin) said,

“This is only the latest in a series of damning reports carried out into state collusion with loyalist paramilitaries and the importation of the South African arms in 1988 to loyalist paramilitaries.

“This report provides further evidence why the current British government is proposing an amnesty for its state forces, an end to investigations, and preventing victims from accessing the courts.

“There is a pressing need to address the legacy of the past and that needs to be done by implementing the 2014 Stormont House Agreement.”