Chief Constable again rejects Mc Gurk’s Report

It emerged today that the Chief Constable has now issued his final response to the Ombudsman’s report into the RUC investigation into the 1971 UVF bombing where 15 people died and has rejected the report.

In February relatives had met the Chief Constable and urged him to study the 13 findings and reconsider his original negative response.  In a letter to BIRW and the PFC the Chief Constable said that he could not accept the PONI findings that there had been ‘investigative bias’ in the RUC investigation, or that the investigation was not ‘proportionate’ to the magnitude of the crime. The Chief Constable has claimed that he is under a duty to apply a consistent test when asked to endorse or agree with judgements in cases such as these. Finally he has referred in his letter to ‘material capable of alternative interpretation.’

Speaking on behalf of the families Pat Irvine said,

‘The Chief Constable has rejected the PONI report. He has set himself up as judge, jury, prosecutor and chief constable. How any reasonable, intelligent human being could argue there was no investigative bias is beyond belief. The RUC, with no evidential basis, blamed the IRA. Army HQ and the Stormont government added to the trail of disinformation and lies. Witnesses weren’t interviewed, claims of responsibility were ignored as was the overwhelming forensic and post mortem evidence. It is highly likely that Matt Baggott had never even heard of Mc Gurk’s Bar before February of this year. From the perspective of the victims it is a great pity it was ever brought to his attention. He has done a grave disservice to the families of the dead and the injured and the wider community in N. Belfast. We had hoped that the years of hurt and pain might be put behind us-never forgetting our loved ones but at last having the truth set free. Instead Matt Baggott has decided to defend those who slandered our loved ones and covered up mass murder.

Speaking on behalf of the two NGOs jointly supporting the families, BIRW & PFC, Jane Winter said,

‘This response sets a potentially dangerous precedent. The Chief Constable, in rejecting this report, has undermined a fundamental building block in the infrastructure of policing Post Patten. If he takes it upon himself to pick and choose the outcome of PONI reports then he is in effect usurping the independent investigatory function of the office. We are at a loss at his reference to ’material capable of alternative interpretation.’ It is not the role or function of the Chief Constable to interpret this material - it is the role of the Ombudsman. He has rejected the findings of investigative bias and claims that the investigation was proportionate. He is a Chief Constable in denial. We are at a loss to understand why Matt Baggott, who is not from Northern Ireland, was never a member of the RUC, and had nothing to do with the matters complained about, should be so anxious to stand over what was self-evidently very poor policing as long ago as 1971. Also of very great concern is the effect of the Chief Constable’s rejection of the PONI report on the victims. They were heavily traumatised by the bombing itself, and have been re-traumatised by the fact that the first report by PONI was so bad that the Police Ombudsman had to apologise to the families and re-write the report. After all they had gone through, the victims were ready to accept the second PONI report, despite some imperfections, and were hoping to lay down their heavy burden of seeking justice for their loved ones, until the Chief Constable issued two press statements within hours of its publication making it clear that he did not accept PONI’s findings. The latest negative response is the final straw. Words cannot describe the hurt that he did to families who were taking the first tentative steps towards reconciliation with the past.