Ombudsman criticises disappearance of key police records
12/12/2006 - 10:50:46The Police Ombudsman in the North has criticised the disappearance of critical evidence needed to investigate claims that the murder of a British soldier could have been prevented.
Stephen Restorick, the last serving British soldier to be killed in the North, was shot dead by an IRA sniper in south Armagh in 1997.
His parents lodged a complaint with the Police Ombudsman after a former undercover soldier claimed the attack could have been prevented, but was allowed to go ahead to protect an informer.
The Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, confirmed today that the car used in the shooting was under surveillance and said police should have been watching it closer.
However, she said many documents relating to the case had been destroyed and, in the absence of these records, she could find nothing to prove that Mr Restorick's life could have been saved.
<-- BACK TO STORY