A judge in Belfast has ruled that the PSNI is in breach of a legal duty to carry out an effective investigation into a fatal loyalist gun attack on a pub in Co Down 30 years ago, where there are allegations of collusion between police officers and the killers.
Peter McCormack (42) was shot dead and three other men were seriously wounded when a UVF gang attacked the Thierafurth Inn in Kilcoo during a darts tournament in November 1992.
High Court judge Mr Justice Humphreys said new material within a report by Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman in 2016 and a documentary film which named suspects "constitutes plausible evidence of significant state collusion" in the shootings.
He said the state had failed to carry out an effective Article 2 or 3 (of the European Convention on Human Rights) compliant investigation into the attack within a reasonable time.
The verdict came in a legal challenge by John McEvoy, a barman who narrowly avoided injury in the shooting, who developed post-traumatic stress disorder.
narrowly avoided injury in the shooting
He brought judicial review proceedings against the PSNI Chief Constable for an alleged failure to ensure an independent, effective investigation.
His legal team argued that there was a clear link between the attack in Kilcoo and several others by a UVF gang operating in south Down at the time, including the murders of six Catholic men watching a Republic of Ireland World Cup game in a bar in Loughinisland in June 1994.
The 2016 Police Ombudsman's report said some RUC officers had colluded with members of the UVF responsible for the gun attack.
Lawyers for Mr McEvoy argue that the same individuals were involved in the Kilcoo attack and that a documentary film about the Loughinisland killings which named suspects plus the Ombudsman's report formed the basis for new fully independent investigation.
"In this case, the new material referred to has been in the public domain for some five to six years, and it would appear has prompted no action by the state," the judge said.
"For reasons of public confidence, as well as the individual rights of the applicant and others affected by this atrocity, that cannot be an acceptable state of affairs."
The judge asked barristers representing Mr McEvoy and the PSNI Chief Constable to consider the judgement and seek to reach agreement on the way forward.
Speaking afterwards, a lawyer for Mr McEvoy said he hopes the PSNI will now meet with him and relatives of others killed in UVF attacks in south Down and agree to carry out a new thematic investigation into the series of attacks he says are clearly linked.
"The suspects remain living in south Down, we know who they are, we know where they're living, the PSNI know who they are, they've obtained confessions in the past from one of the suspects," said solicitor Gavin Booth of Phoenix Law.
"We know that some suspects have been agents of the state working for the PSNI, we know that Special Branch failed in their duties to pass on proper intelligence to the investigating authorities at the time, so it's on the PSNI now to start a proper investigation into all these events including the attack on the Thierafurth Inn."
Mr McEvoy said he welcomed the judge's ruling and hoped the PSNI would now launch a fresh investigation.
The ruling was also welcomed by South Down MP Chris Hazard of Sinn Féin, who was in the High Court this morning.
"This is a watershed decision for families living in South Down, and further exposes damning levels of collusion between the state and loyalist paramilitaries," he said.
"All of these murders and attacks must now be properly investigated and those responsible brought before the courts."
