Police 'could not have stopped' Nelson's murder
Police could not have saved the life of murdered solicitor Rosemary Nelson given the determination of her killers, the North's former police chief Ronnie Flanagan said today.
The former Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Chief Constable today gave a third day of evidence at the public inquiry into allegations of security force wrongdoing over the lawyer’s murder in a loyalist car bomb in 1999.
But Flanagan said Mrs Nelson had been murdered by thugs and cowards who were determined to kill and that in the absence of intelligence of a direct threat against the solicitor, police could not have saved the mother-of-three.
The former police chief recounted how the Troubles had seen more than 300 RUC officers murdered and 7,000 maimed and injured.
Flanagan said: “Sadly, when a number of my friends died in the way that Rosemary Nelson died and it was not possible to protect their lives, even if things were done differently, it is my sad conclusion it would not have saved Mrs Nelson’s life.”
