NI Police Ombudsman under fire

02/11/2005 - 14:05:56
Northern Ireland‘s Police Ombudsman was today labelled a waste of money after an Ulster Unionist peer claimed the office had secured only four successful convictions over the past four years.

In an attack on Nuala O‘Loan‘s investigative team, Lord Maginnis of Drumglass demanded an inquiry into how her office operated after a response to a Parliamentary Question revealed the office received £26.5m (€38m) between 2001 and 2005.

Lord Maginnis was also told there had only been four successful convictions against police officers out of a total of 475 cases referred to the UK's Director of Public Prosecutions during that time.

“In effect it works out at over £6.6m (€9.7m) per conviction,” the UUP peer claimed.

“By no criterion could this be described as value for money.

“In effect the per capita cost of a criminal conviction arising from complaints investigated by the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is over 250 times the equivalent cost of a criminal conviction by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.”

The Police Ombudsman investigates complaints against PSNI officers and has also probed the work of the PSNI‘s predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Lord Maginnis condemned the office for taking an unsuccessful case against Constable Trevor Purcell for alleged dangerous driving during a riot.

The peer said not only was it scandalous that a case was brought against Constable Purcell in the first place but it was disgraceful that it was adjourned on at least 28 occasions between May 2003 and its dismissal in November 2004.

This, he said, had put Constable Purcell and his family through a huge amount of unnecessary stress and uncertainty.

Lord Maginnis said the ombudsman‘s office was an expensive luxury which had only served to hinder the delivery of effective policing in Northern Ireland.

Urging the British government to instigate a root-and-branch inquiry into the ombudsman, Lord Maginnis said it needed to be replaced with a body capable of enjoying the confidence of both police and public.

He added: “It is the antithesis of justice that the Police Ombudsman is not accountable or answerable to any person or any authority including the Commissioner for Justice.”