Call for prosecutions over Loughinisland

Call for prosecutions over Loughinisland

7 September 2016

THE House of Commons will today hear calls for the prosecution of those behind the 1994 massacre of six men in Loughinisland.

South Down MP, Margaret Ritchie, has secured an adjournment debate and will press the Secretary of State, James Brokenshire, to back prosecutions, an apology and compensation for the families of the victims.

Miss Ritchie’s move comes after a Police Ombudsman’s report into the UVF murder of Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (53), Barney Green (87), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O’Hare (35) and Eamon Byrne (39) found “collusion was a significant feature” of the attack in the Heights Bar in June 1994.

Dr Michael Maguire’s report said while the police did not have advance knowledge of the attack, the RUC had failed to robustly target a UVF gang operating in the south Down area, did not properly investigate the attack and Special Branch did not pass on information gleaned from informants to the investigating detectives.

No-one has ever been convicted of carrying out the attack and significantly Dr Maguire did not recommend any former police officers for prosecution.

However, a legal challenge has now been launched against Dr Maguire’s report by the Retired Police Officer’s Association which in November is expected to seek leave at the High Court to apply for a judicial review.

However, Miss Ritchie said she would be pressing the Secretary of State to support her call for prosecutions, an apology and compensation.

The MP said central to her case was the fact that the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, wrote to her after the publication of the Ombudsman’s report saying he took “any allegations of police misconduct very seriously.”

“Where there is evidence of wrongdoing it must be pursued — everyone is subject to the rule of law,” Mr Cameron wrote.

Miss Ritchie said she had written to Theresa May urging her to intervene personally.

“In view of this declaration of the British government’s position at the very highest level, I will be pushing the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland during the debate for prosecutions of those who perpetrated the crime and for anybody who tried to pervert the course of justice in the Loughinisland tragedy,” she said.

“We cannot begin to move forward to build a shared and inclusive society if issues from the past are not comprehensively addressed.”