Ombudsman reports significant operational and investigative failures in Troubles killings belfastlive.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from belfastlive.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BBC News
By Julian O Neill
Published
image captionNine-year-old Patrick Rooney was the first child killed in the Troubles
Police officers who killed four people at the outset of the Troubles were never held to account for their actions due to investigative failings, a report has found.
The victims included a nine-year-old boy, Patrick Rooney.
The police ombudsman also stated the use of machine guns by officers to deal with rioting in Belfast in 1969 was disproportionate and dangerous .
No former officers can be prosecuted due to a lack of evidence.
The ombudsman, Marie Anderson, has published a 128-page report covering the deaths of four people during severe rioting in the city on 14 and 15 August 1969.
Police blundered at the dawn of Northern Ireland’s Troubles by using vehicle-mounted machine guns in residential areas and not effectively investigating the ensuing deaths, including that of the first child killed in the conflict, according to a new report. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) committed “significant operational and investigative failures” during the killing of four people in Belfast on 14 and 15 August 1969, the police ombudsman.
Relatives of four Catholic civilians shot dead by the RUC have broadly welcomed a Police Ombudsman report that found there was "no effective investigation" into the deaths.