Hugh Orde ruled out an independent review of the original police investigation into the murder because no evidence of collusion had been found.
Damian Brown, son of the GAA official killed by the LVF, said it was inaccurate and misleading for the chief constable to rule out an independent inquiry.
“We are angry and deeply concerned that he has failed to acknowledge the full implications of the police ombudsman’s report,” Brown said. “She made clear to our family that she had found no evidence of any direct [police] involvement in the actual murder. We never claimed that there was.
“Her report, however, detailed a number of concerns that make it absolutely impossible for us to have any confidence in any investigation which includes members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.”
The ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, had pointed out that two vital files had gone missing after police became aware of her investigation and that, as a result, she could not definitively come to any conclusions on collusion.
“A PSNI investigation will receive little or no cooperation in South Derry and will certainly not receive any cooperation from our family,” Brown said. “We have instructed our solicitor to initiate legal proceedings to stop this ‘reinvestigation’ by the same people who failed us in the first place.”
Meanwhile, the UDA is reportedly considering withdrawing from the Loyalist Commission, an umbrella group for loyalist paramilitary groups, Protestant clerics and unionist politicians. It’s understood that the UDA has also attempted to persuade the rival UVF to leave the body and reestablish the defunct Combined Loyalist Military Command, which operated in the 1990s.
In other news, the Ulster Political Research Group, which articulates the views of the UDA, has warned Protestants to be “on the alert” over the growth in the Catholic population. The UPRG called on Protestants to boycott Catholic-owned pubs and shops.
“For too long Protestant people have ignored what is happening in Ulster,” the statement read. “They have slowly been ethnically cleansed in the city side of Londonderry; the same has taken place in border areas and republicans seek to do the same in other areas.
“So the next time you shop or drink think who you are supporting, because more than six thousand people voted for a party linked to people who have bombed, shot, killed and maimed people.”
The statement also congratulated the DUP on its recent election success.
The Sinn Fein Assembly member for North Antrim, Philip McGuigan, described the statement as shocking. “We have seen a rise in racially motivated attacks with loyalists denying involvement, yet here we have a statement calling on people not to do business with Catholics,” he said.
“This is clearly sectarian and racially motivated and is an attempt on the part of the UDA ‘not to have a Fenian about the place.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein has accused the British government of tolerating an “acceptable level” of UDA violence.
“The British government response [to recent incidents] has been virtually nil. The fact is that since the UDA was formed the British government has tolerated and in many cases encouraged its activities,” it said.
On the republican side of the fence, relations between the Irish minister for justice, Michael McDowell, and Sinn Fein have reached a new low after he repeated claims that IRA criminal activity is being used to fund the party.
There were no “Chinese walls” between IRA and Sinn Fein finances, said McDowell, infuriating Sinn Fein on both sides of the border. The party has accused him of “crude posturing.”
In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair also said it was important to make clear during the review that “there cannot be a situation in which a political party is being funded by anything other than purely democratic and peaceful methods.”
Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy said McDowell was abusing his position to smear Sinn Fein and his comments were prompted by fear of the party’s growing electoral strength in the republic, while Martin McGuinness warned the allegations could jeopardize reviving the agreement.