A CONTROVERSIAL loyalist band alleged to have flouted a Parades Commission ruling close to St Patrick's Church in north Belfast will not be prosecuted.
North Down band Bangor Protestant Boys Flute Band have twice broken rulings not to play music near, or passing, the north Belfast church in Donegall Street.
They caused outrage on Easter Monday 2015 when members played the sectarian Famine Song while passing St Patrick's.
After investigating alleged breaches of the determination the PSNI said "no criminal offences have been disclosed" and the investigation was closed."
When the band took part in an Apprentice Boys parade later in the year they ignored a further Parades Commission ruling by playing a hymn while passing the church, despite a determination for a single drumbeat.
On Facebook the band, which wears UVF-style insignia and has in the past been pictured carrying paramilitary-linked flags, claimed at the time to have played called "a well known church hymn" as it passed St Patrick’s.
The band also played the Famine Song in Donegall Street just outside the no music zone while the Parades Commission had earlier ruled that no music should be played while passing the church or the nearby nationalist district of Carrick Hill.
Sinn Féin councillor JJ Magee said at the time he was "very disappointed by the Apprentice Boys inviting this band to march past the church again".
On his Twitter page yesterday loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson, who is a member of the band, posted a letter from the Public Prosecution Service stating they had "considered the evidence currently available" they would not be prosecuting the band in relation to the August incident.
The north Down loyalist posted: "PSNI's malicious attempt to prosecute our band for playing a hymn past St Patrick's falls flat on its face".
