RELATIVES of the five people killed by a loyalist gun squad in a Belfast bookmakers said the display of one of the murder weapons in a British war museum has "added insult to injury".
It was revealed on last night's BBC1 Panorama programme that a missing assault rifle used in the 1992 UDA attack at Sean Graham's bookmakers on Ormeau Road was found in an exhibit at London's Imperial War Museum.
The programme, 'Britain's Secret Terror Deals', detailed allegations that the state colluded with paramilitary killers and covered up their crimes.
Among the claims in the programme were that "hundreds and hundreds of people" were killed by informants who operated "with impunity", key evidence was destroyed to protect state agents and crimes linked to collusion were not properly investigated.
Mark Thompson, director of Relatives for Justice, said families of those killed at the bookmakers had been informed by the Police Ombudsman of the rifle's discovery.
"It's beyond being crass and insensitive - it's downright sick and adds insult to injury in what is already a grave injustice yet to be addressed," he said.
The victims' families had been told the weapon, an automatic assault rifle modelled on the AK47, had been destroyed.
Instead it was a key exhibit in a British museum of memorabilia charting the country's military endeavour from World War I to the present day.
The gun was part of a large consignment imported in the late 1980s by the British Army's Force Research Unit (FRU) agent Brian Nelson.
The programme detailed how the bookmakers' shooting was linked to nine other collusion-linked murders and highlighted other evidence, once declared missing but later found.
This included the witness statement of Alan Black, only survivor of the 1976 Kingsmills gun attack.
Mr Black, who was stuck by 18 bullets, including one which grazed his head, told how file after file was destroyed in fire, flood and even asbestos contamination.
However, a new inquest into the deaths revealed that his 'lost' witness statement still exists and documentation shows two suspects have been told they will not be arrested as part of the British government's controversial 'on-the-runs' scheme.
But key evidence remains missing in other suspected cases of collusion, including the murder of policewoman Colleen McMurray.
Constable McMurray (34), from Sixmilecross in Co Tyrone, was killed in a 1992 IRA attack in Newry, using a rocket developed with the help of British agent Peter Keeley.
According to Panorama, all evidence from the murder scene has disappeared, including crucial police log recording the threat made against officers.
Constable McMurray's husband Philip believes his wife was knowingly sacrificed to protect the informant.
Former Police Ombudsman, Baroness Nuala O'Loan said she was "fairly sure there was an informant who had been protected in the case", but believes while her death "may have been a mistake... the murder wasn't solved and I think that's where the problem was".
Keeley, also known as Kevin Fulton, told the programme: "I got a brave few people caught and jailed", but refused to go into details of any murders he may have been directly involved in because of "an ongoing police investigation".
He claimed to have told his handlers who "had control" of the bomb "two weeks before the killing" and that they knew an attack would happen that day.
The loyalist murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan also featured in the programmed.
Murder charges against five suspects collapsed after police paperwork undermined the credibility of a key 'supergrass witness' by showing he was a "sworn member of the LVF".
A Special Branch officer is being investigated for perverting the course of justice and Mr O'Hagan's brother Fintan told Panorama he believes the case collapsed because of collusion.
"They have psychopaths in their employ and are feeding them back into society to do, maybe to do, their dirty work," he said.
