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14/02/2002
Police Association launch legal bid to get Ombudsman's report quashed
The Police Association has launched a major legal bid aimed at quashing the Police Ombudsman's highly critical report of the police handling of the Omagh bomb investigation.
In papers lodged in the High Court in Belfast on Wednesday February 13, the Police Association said Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's own investigation was unfair and had failed to be conducted properly. Citing that police officers across the board felt extremely maligned, the Association's chairman Jimmy Spratt said they felt they had no other alternative but to pursue legal avenues.
Mr Spratt said: "This application for a judicial review is just some measure of the depth of feeling from every member of the Police Service that staff have joined together to lodge this complaint. This judicial review would not have been necessary had the Police Ombudsman moved promptly to withdraw and correct her report so as to vindicate the reputations of these officers whom she maligned without right of reply."
The Police Association represents rank and file members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary). The papers lodged by the association's solicitors include affidavits sworn by PSNI Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan and Association chairman Jimmy Spratt.
A judge has to grant leave before the case can proceed and it is expected an oral hearing will be heard over the next two weeks.
The legal push comes in response to the Ombudsman's scathing report on the investigation of the 1998 Omagh bombing, in which a Real IRA car bomb killed 29 people. It concluded the judgement and leadership of Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the assistant chief constable of the crime division was "seriously flawed".
The PSNI Chief Sir Ronnie said Ms O'Loan's report was "grossly unfair.” He added: “I feel that I have been very sorely wronged. The draft report reaches very sweeping conclusions about me without me ever having been interviewed, without those conclusions ever having been put to me and without me ever having been given an opportunity to respond.”
The association is seeking a declaration that the Ombudsman's report failed to secure the confidence of the public and members of the PSNI in the statutory police complaints system.
It contends that Mrs O'Loan's report and associated decisions were unlawful because the chief constable and other senior officers were denied a fair and reasonable opportunity to make a considered and informed response. (AMcE)
In papers lodged in the High Court in Belfast on Wednesday February 13, the Police Association said Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's own investigation was unfair and had failed to be conducted properly. Citing that police officers across the board felt extremely maligned, the Association's chairman Jimmy Spratt said they felt they had no other alternative but to pursue legal avenues.
Mr Spratt said: "This application for a judicial review is just some measure of the depth of feeling from every member of the Police Service that staff have joined together to lodge this complaint. This judicial review would not have been necessary had the Police Ombudsman moved promptly to withdraw and correct her report so as to vindicate the reputations of these officers whom she maligned without right of reply."
The Police Association represents rank and file members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary). The papers lodged by the association's solicitors include affidavits sworn by PSNI Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan and Association chairman Jimmy Spratt.
A judge has to grant leave before the case can proceed and it is expected an oral hearing will be heard over the next two weeks.
The legal push comes in response to the Ombudsman's scathing report on the investigation of the 1998 Omagh bombing, in which a Real IRA car bomb killed 29 people. It concluded the judgement and leadership of Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the assistant chief constable of the crime division was "seriously flawed".
The PSNI Chief Sir Ronnie said Ms O'Loan's report was "grossly unfair.” He added: “I feel that I have been very sorely wronged. The draft report reaches very sweeping conclusions about me without me ever having been interviewed, without those conclusions ever having been put to me and without me ever having been given an opportunity to respond.”
The association is seeking a declaration that the Ombudsman's report failed to secure the confidence of the public and members of the PSNI in the statutory police complaints system.
It contends that Mrs O'Loan's report and associated decisions were unlawful because the chief constable and other senior officers were denied a fair and reasonable opportunity to make a considered and informed response. (AMcE)
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