Legal experts find British collusion in 24 loyalist attacks
A human rights investigation has found 'credible evidence' of police and British Army collusion in 74 sectarian murders during the Troubles in the North.
An investigation of 25 loyalist atrocities during the 1970s by an international panel of human rights experts said senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were aware and approved of collusion while officials in London had enough information to intervene.
The group also revealed it was told during its investigation that gardaí in the Republic failed to co-operate in bringing republicans to justice for the murders of Protestants in the North.
The panel, whose members include a law lecturer with the University of Notre Dame in the US and a former investigator for the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, called on the British government to appoint an independent inquiry to examine how high up the chain of command collusion went.
They also urged the authorities in the Republic to investigate the claims made about the Gardaí.
The group was asked by Derry-based human rights organisation the Pat Finucane Centre to investigate the 25 incidents.
Among the witnesses they interviewed about security force collusion with loyalists were former Army intelligence officer Fred Holroyd, ex-civil servant Colin Wallace, former RUC officers John Weir and Billy McCaughey.
In their 115-page report, the panel said: "Credible evidence indicates that superiors of violent extremist officers and agents, at least within the RUC, were aware of their sectarian crimes yet failed to act to prevent, investigate or punish them.
"On the contrary, they allegedly made statements that appeared to condone participation in these crimes.
"Even after Weir and another officer confessed in 1978 - information that should have blown the lid off RUC and Ulster Defence Regiment involvement in murdering Catholics - police investigations and ensuing prosecutions were inadequate by any reasonable standard."
