LISTEN - Police Ombudsman says no one "protected" in Robert McCartney murder investigation

by Q Radio News

The Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire, says he can understand why the family of a man killed outside a bar in Belfast, feel let down by the criminal justice system.

An investigation was carried out in to how police conducted inquiries surrounding the murder of Robert McCartney.

The 33 year-old was fatally stabbed outside Magennis' Bar in January 2005 and died from his injuries. 

A number of other men were seriously injured.

A series of complaints were lodged as to how police dealt with the murder inquiry.

One complaint asked how it was possible for the bar area to be cleaned prior to police arriving on the scene, leaving so little forensic evidence.

However Doctor Michael Maguire says nobody was protected in the probe in to the killing of Mr McCartney. 

Doctor Maguire described the investigation as complex and says there were "unique obstacles", including a reluctance by some witnesses to give evidence and concerns about the credibility of others. 

Three men were charged with the murder of Robert McCartney and faced trial, however they were later acquitted.

It was also alleged that people were allowed to leave the scene without their names and addresses being recorded.

However investigators confirmed that people left the bar before police arrived, who then ensured they got contact details for all those who were still present.

Dr. Maguire says the investigators found that police had gone to ‘considerable lengths’ to identify those who had been in the bar earlier, including conducting both door to door inquiries and media appeals.

As a result, they did not find evidence to support a complaint that identification parades should have been held much sooner, saying that the strategy to hold off on immediate arrests and ID parades was valid.

The issue of police efforts to find the origins and whereabouts of the knife used to stab Mr McCartney was also raised.

Investigators established that police interviewed several people and conducted an extensive search of drains, gulleys and roof tops over a wide area in their efforts to find the weapon.

No records were found which would support an allegation made to police, about shoes with blood on them, hidden in the home of a named individual.

Similarly, they did not find evidence which would support an allegation that one of the suspects was not interviewed properly, nor that two named individuals or anyone else had been protected from prosecution because they may have been police informers.

The Police Ombudsman had some criticism of the PSNI and said the proper resourcing of the investigation team was challenging from the outset. 

He says the likes of telephone interrogations were not coordinated as they should have been.

Police Ombudsman investigators have met members of Mr McCartney’s family, briefed them on the findings of their investigation and apologised for the time it has taken to complete.