Ex-watchdog told she would 'destroy peace process'

A former police ombudsman was told she would "destroy the peace process" if she published a report into the RUC's investigation of the Omagh bomb, an inquiry has heard.

The 1998 bombing in the County Tyrone town had the highest death toll of any single attack during the Troubles, killing 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins.

In 2001 there was a very public fall out between the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the then Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.

On Wednesday, the Omagh Bombing Inquiry was told Sir Ronnie threatened to take legal action to prevent Baroness O'Loan from publishing a highly critical report of the RUC's investigation into the explosion.

Her report, published in December 2001, was particularly critical of both Sir Ronnie and the RUC's then assistant chief constable.

The inquiry, which is taking place in Belfast, also heard that when Baroness O'Loan taught law at University of Ulster Sir Ronnie had been a student of hers.

He will give evidence to the inquiry later on Wednesday.

Baroness O'Loan served as Northern Ireland's first police ombudsman from 2000 to 2007.

The inquiry heard that during her seven-year tenure, she was responsible for 21,000 investigations which covered 35,000 allegations.

After the publication of an article in The Sunday People in July 2001, her office "self-generated" an investigation into the RUC's investigations of the bombing.

The article had highlighted severe failings in the investigations and said a warning three days before the bombing had not been actioned.

Baroness O'Loan said that at that point the allegations in the article had massive potential to damage the integrity of the RUC in relation to the events surrounding the Omagh bombing.

She described the explosion as "the most grave and exceptional crime in the history of Northern Ireland".

"It seemed to me that I had a power to investigate without a complaint and it seemed to me that given the gravity of the situation - given the terrible circumstances and the terrible consequences of the Omagh bomb - that I needed to think about investigating.

"Our aim in doing this investigation was A, to provide reassurance if reassurance was possible to the families, and B, to ensure that anything which could be done to facilitate the Omagh investigation in the hope that it would lead to convictions of those who were responsible for it."

She said the investigation was "challenging" from the very beginning "because of hostility in some quarters to the mere fact that I had decided to exercise my powers to examine matters relating to the Omagh bomb".

The then RUC chief constable was informed about the investigation and she said he assured her of "full cooperation".

Baroness O'Loan spoke about how initially she thought it would be a short investigation, but that over time the scope of it grew.

Her office was frustrated because information it requested was not provided, or was incomplete.

Baroness O'Loan said she was "astonished" to find out the RUC was conducting an internal review which she had not been told about.

"We had asked for all the intelligence and we hadn't been told about this very significant document."

She told the inquiry that her office continued to have difficulties with redacted reports and no access to the police database.

"It really was profoundly difficult that we were like drawing teeth in terms of getting information out of the police".

At that point, the Police Ombudsman's Office extended the scope of the investigation to include whether intelligence held by the RUC was correctly revealed and exploited by the investigations team.

The inquiry heard that as the report was completed and prepared for publication Baroness O'Loan faced pressure to pull the report.

She detailed how in a meeting with Sir Ronnie at Hillsborough Castle he told her that she was "going to destroy the peace process, my office would never recover".

The inquiry was told he also threatened to take the police ombudsman's office to a judicial review to stop the publication of the report.

The report was published in December 2001.

Among the findings was that the judgement and leadership of the chief constable and the assistant chief constable had been seriously flawed and the chances of apprehending and convicting the bombers had been significantly reduced.

Baroness O'Loan explained that conclusion to the inquiry.

"The investigation was very quickly wound down by the police, you know? The number of officers involved and the way in which it was conducted - it was flawed. I think that's accepted now.

"It seemed to me that there was a huge, huge problem there in terms of a fundamental investigation of the biggest tragedy of the Troubles was just left drifting."

Another finding identified significant problems in relation to the receipt, recording, evaluation, handling and dissemination of intelligence information received by the security forces.

In particular, they mishandled information provided by an RUC informer who went by the name Kevin Fulton and warned his handlers about an imminent bombing.

In another example, Baroness O'Loan outlined how a warning call received by Omagh RUC on 4 August warning of an attack in Omagh on the 15 August - the day the bomb exploded - was dismissed by police.

"I think the dismissal of this as a fall out among smugglers, to me, that was bizarre and absurd," she said.

"If you were involved in a forthcoming terrorist bomb of this kind and you wanted to get it stopped, you might decide that you would provide information which would be specific which would require action, with a specific date - the specific date.

"So you would want the police or military to take some action to prevent it."