Ombudsman: Police colluded with killers responsible for Loughinisland massacre
Police colluded with loyalist paramilitaries responsible for a massacre that saw six people killed and another five injured by prioritising protecting its informants over solving crimes, an investigation has concluded.
Police colluded with loyalist paramilitaries responsible for a massacre that saw six people killed and another five injured by prioritising protecting its informants over solving crimes, an investigation has concluded.
On June 18, 1994, Protestant gunmen from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) entered the Heights Bar in Loughinisland and opened fire on customers.
Families of the victims have long claimed that officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) the predecessor to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) colluded with those responsible.
These concerns were vindicated on Thursday (June 9) after Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Dr Michael Maguire published a report confirming that police informers were involved in the attack.
He also found that opportunities to gather evidence were missed, and that the forces Special Branch withheld evidence to protect its sources.
Dr Maguire said: Many of the issues I have identified in this report, including the protection of informants through both wilful acts and the passive turning a blind eye; catastrophic failures in the police investigation; and destruction of exhibits and documents are in themselves evidence of collusion.
When viewed collectively I have no hesitation in unambiguously determining that collusion is a significant feature of the Loughinisland murders.
While Dr Maguire found no evidence that the RUC knew about an intended attack on the Heights Bar, he said the following investigation was characterised by incompetence, indifference and neglect.
RUC officers quickly managed to gather intelligence on the perpetrators, including the getaway vehicle, the murder weapons and the clothing they wore.
Within 24 hours, the names of the suspects were known, but the force delayed making arrests and no-one was ever prosecuted for the attack.
The RUC also failed to probe allegations that one officer warned the suspects they were likely to be arrested, and did not follow up inquiries into the getaway car used, which had been purchased by a prominent paramilitary figure the previous night.
One of the main criticisms levelled in the report relates to failures to pass evidence on to investigators.
Dr Maguire found the forces Special Branch was aware of previous murders conducted by a UVF unit linked to the Loughinisland investigation, but crucial information was not fully passed on.
One file of evidence was marked NDD/Slow Waltz, which Dr Maguire said meant it would not be disseminated downwards, and only shared slowly if at all.
He claimed this was likely an attempt to protect sources, and that it clearly undermined the investigations.
Dr Maguire added that if they had been properly investigated at the time, the offenders could have been sentenced and might not have been involved in the attack at the Heights Bar.
He also confirmed that the firearm used in the massacre was part of a huge shipment of South African weapons brought into Northern Ireland in the 1980s.
The same rifle had previously been used in two separate attacks, and other weapons from the shipment were used in more than 70 murders and attempted murders.
Another firearm found near the rifle after the Loughinisland attack is also believed to have come from the shipment.
However, Dr Maguire found that even though police informants were involved in procuring, importing and distributing the weapons, intelligence implicating senior paramilitary members in the weapons importation was not disseminated due to a desire not to implicate these sources.
The RUCs Special Branch had failed to provide detectives with intelligence on where the weapons were being stored a farm run by another informant.
As a result, the farm was never searched, even though one detective was familiar with the location and had participated in previous investigations involving it.
Dr Maguire said: Given the gravity of the conspiracy and the impact that the importation of these firearms had on the lives of numerous citizens, this decision was in