Patsy Kelly’s body was found in a County Fermanagh lake about 20 miles from where he worked in County Tyrone
By Conor Neeson & Julian O’Neill
BBC News NI
The family of a nationalist politician murdered in 1974 were failed by the police as a result of “a wholly inadequate investigation”, the Police Ombudsman has found.
Patsy Kelly was shot dead after being abducted on his way home from work at a pub in Trillick, County Tyrone in 1974.
The Police Ombudsman found that police had failed to verify the alibis of UDR soldiers suspected of involvement.
She also said there was evidence of collusive behaviour.
Marie Anderson said the RUC special branch had withheld intelligence from the original murder investigation.
She also said that there had been a failure to pursue forensic evidence, including a footprint at the scene of Mr Kelly’s abduction which was from boots “associated with a type worn by members of the security forces”.
Mr Kelly’s son, also Patsy, said that the family felt “vindicated” but this was just one more step in the process of finding the truth.
Image source, Pacemaker
Mr Kelly’s son, also Patsy (second from right), says the truth, in some form, has come out
Speaking on BBC’s Talkback programme, he said: “After the findings, which we’re still digesting and trying to take in at this early stage, my God, how badly has my family been let down by men in uniforms?”
Mr Kelly said one of the most damning lines including in the report was in reference to collusive behaviour by security forces.
“The state has acted to put as many obstacles and obstructions in our way for decades but today the truth has, in some form, has come out,” he said.
The next step will be the granting of a fresh inquest into his father’s murder, Mr Kelly added.
The 35-year-old’s body was found weeks after his abduction on 10 August 1974, weighed down in Lough Eyes, near Lisbellaw, about 20 miles away. He had been shot six times.
No-one has ever been convicted.
The father-of-five’s family have always been convinced that members the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) were responsible for the murder and that the police did not conduct a proper investigation because of this.
Mr Kelly’s family met Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson on Wednesday morning before her findings were made public.
‘Significant failings’
The Police Ombudsman’s report catalogues a series of “significant” investigative failings, which were:
- Failure to adequately verify the alibis of UDR members and failure to record detailed witness statements
- Failure to link cases
- Forensic failings including failure to make enquiries about footwear marks, failure to recover the boat at Lough Eyes and no record of fingerprint enquiries
- Failure to make enquiries about an anonymous letter
- ‘Latent’ investigative bias on the part of the senior investigating officer
Det Ch Supt Ian Saunders, head of the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch, said Mr Kelly was the “innocent victim of a brutal sectarian murder”.
“Policing in 1974 operated in a very different context. Investigative standards for detectives and forensic opportunities were very different to those rightly expected today,” he said.
“None of this seeks to excuse any inadequacies or failings in the original RUC investigation, it is simply to place them in the wider context of the time.
“Policing has developed enormously over the past forty nine years and the Police Service of Northern Ireland now have greatly improved policies and procedures which guide how we approach criminal investigations and I note the comments of the Police Ombudsman regarding the re-investigation in 2003-2005.”
What is meant by collusive behaviour?
The term collusion has been raised in several official reports and inquiries related to the Northern Ireland Troubles over the past two decades – but what does it mean?
It is worth stating there is no offence of collusion, although it may involve a criminal act. It has been said to have many faces.
Generally, it covers a broad range of behaviours, from deliberate wilful actions to “a look the other way” approach.
There is no universally-accepted definition of collusion, but from 2003 onwards judges and others have spelled out what it means in a Northern Ireland context.
