PSNI rejects accusations that it is unable to solve terror group murders
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Version 0 of 1. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has rejected accusations from a prominent campaigner for paramilitary victims that the force is incapable of solving murders by terror groups in the region. A senior police commander insisted on Monday that the PSNI had the expertise to investigate such killings. He was responding to allegations from Catherine McCartney, whose brother Robert was murdered by IRA members outside a Belfast city centre bar a decade ago, that PSNI inquiries into his killing and others were hampered by political considerations. McCartney called for an external police force to investigate the fatal shooting of the former IRA assassin Kevin McGuigan outside his home in east Belfast last week. Related: Call for IRA gunman Kevin McGuigan's murder inquiry to be taken off PSNI McGuigan, a former neighbour of the McCartney family, was shot dead in the Catholic Short Strand district of east Belfast on Wednesday night. He feared for his life because fellow republicans had accused him of assassinating the former Belfast IRA leader Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison in the nearby Markets area in May. McCartney said: “In my view the police record on these types of murders is abysmal. Public confidence is nil and people don’t feel protected from paramilitaries. I’m in no doubt politics influences police investigation strategies. I certainly believe we don’t have an independent police force and that’s a huge problem.” The McGuigan killing has further destabilised the already fragile power-sharing executive at Stormont. Northern Ireland’s first minister, Peter Robinson, said last week that Sinn Féin could be expelled from the coalition if IRA involvement in the murder was proven. Sinn Féin’s former mayor of Belfast, Alex Maskey, vehemently denied any IRA connection to the killing. Responding to allegations of a cover-up in the McGuigan killing designed to protect the political process at Stormont, the PSNI’s assistant chief constable, Mark Hamilton, said the force had “the resources, the expertise and the commitment to investigate serious crime including murder to the highest professional standards”. “The particular arrangements in place in Northern Ireland guarantee unprecedented levels of scrutiny and accountability. These ensure that everyone in our community can have confidence that police are answerable for their actions and decisions in conducting major investigations. “The key to resolving these murders lies with community support and we would appeal for members of the community to come forward and assist us in our inquiries.” A man and a woman were arrested as part of the McGuigan murder investigation, but were later released unconditionally. |