Police "breaching human rights" of Glenanne victims families

By David Young, PA

The police's failure to conduct an overarching examination of state collusion with a notorious loyalist murder gang in Northern Ireland was inconsistent with its human rights obligations, a judge has found.

The independent Historic Enquiries Team (HET) had partially completed a probe into the activities of the Glenanne gang before its work was halted by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) commanders.

Solicitor @darraghmackin says families who lost loved ones to Glenanne gang have been exonerated by judgment. pic.twitter.com/COrMjIeCte

— David Young (@DavidYoungPA) July 28, 2017

The HET had examined individual murders committed by the gang but had not undertaken an overarching thematic review of the collusion allegations.

The PSNI's decision to stop the HET review was challenged by way of judicial review by the family of one of the gang's victims.

The Glenanne gang was a unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) that counted rogue security force personnel among its members.

Operating mostly in Tyrone and Armagh, the gang has been blamed for around 130 sectarian murders during the 1970s and 1980s.

The judicial review was taken by the family of Patrick Barnard, who was killed in a bomb blast in Dungannon in 1976.

Delivering judgment at Belfast High Court, Judge Seamus Treacy found that changes made by the PSNI to how it investigated historic cases were "fundamentally inconsistent" with its obligations in the European Convention on Human Rights.

He also questioned the state's commitment to investigating cases that involved alleged collusion.

He was particularly critical of decisions taken by former PSNI chief constable Sir Matt Baggott.