The NI Police Ombudsman has said that a PSNI officer who shot dead a man four years ago had been justified in opening fire.
However, Nuala O'Loan's report also strongly criticised several police officers who refused to co-operate with her investigation.
In April 2003, 21-year-old Neil McConville was shot and killed by a police officer who had stopped his car following a pursuit near Lisburn in Co Antrim.
The policeman said he had opened fire because he believed Mr McConville was about to drive over a fellow officer who had been knocked down and was lying in the path of the car.
Another man in the car was wounded and after the incident police found a sawn-off shotgun in the vehicle.
The Ombudsman's inquiry concluded that the police officer had been justified in opening fire, but Nuala O'Loan said the decision to stop the car from behind had been high risk, and poorly managed.
She also expressed grave concern that sensitive intelligence had been deleted from a PSNI computer during her inquiry, and she recommended that two officers who refused to co-operate with her should be transferred to less contentious areas of policing.
