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.
Burglar chased down the street by victim pleads: I m sorry! Phone the police
Amadeusz Myzywa was jailed for 18 months for breaking into two properties in one night
Updated
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A burglar broke into a house and then begged his victim to phone the police when he was chased down the street.
Officers arrested intruder Amadeusz Myzywa, 33, after the terrifying and deeply unsettling incident.
However, investigators were unable to determine which vehicle had fired the shot.
âThe evidence also indicates that the officers who crewed the Shorlands were insufficiently trained in the use of the Browning machine guns, and that there was a lack of clear instruction as to how the weapons could be used to control public order without risking the lives of innocent bystanders,â Mrs Anderson said.
Mr McCabe was a soldier who had been at home in Divis on leave when he was fatally wounded.
Mrs Anderson concluded he was most likely to have been shot by one of two police marksmen positioned on the roof of Hastings Street police station.
Investigative Failures By Police Found Over Four Deaths Significant operational and investigative failures by the police over the deaths of four people during severe disorder in Belfast in August 1969 have been found, according to the Police Ombudsman.
In a 128-page report published , Marie Anderson concluded that nine-year-old Patrick Rooney, Hugh McCabe aged 20, Samuel McLarnon aged 27, and 28-year-old Michael Lynch, died after being struck by police gunfire during disturbances in the Divis and Ardoyne areas of the city.
The report found that even allowing for the tumultuous circumstances of the time, the RUC failed to effectively investigate any of the deaths.
Date Time
Bus shelter on Jonson Street to be removed this week
The wooden bus shelter on Jonson Street outside the Byron Visitors Centre will be removed by Council this Friday (7 May) with all bus services operating from the new bus interchange on Butler Street in Byron Bay.
The Jonson Street bus stop was decommissioned by Transport for NSW last week when it opened the $8.4 million Butler Street bus interchange which was designed to shift transport services out of Jonson Street.
“With the new bus interchange now in operation, we will be dismantling and removing the wooden shelter at the Jonson Street bus stop which was built by Council as a temporary structure in 1995 awaiting construction of a permanent interchange,” Byron Shire Council’s Acting Manager Major Projects, Chris Soulsby said.