Northern Ireland

PSNI silent on removing Margaret Thatcher sign

Police removed a sign about Margaret Thatcher from a road in Enniskillen in April 2013
Police removed a sign about Margaret Thatcher from a road in Enniskillen in April 2013 Police removed a sign about Margaret Thatcher from a road in Enniskillen in April 2013

THE PSNI has still not given any explanation for removing a derogatory sign about Margaret Thatcher but failing to take down a poster of Billy Wright.

Earlier this week police confirmed that officers took down a display in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh around the time of the British prime minister's death.

Inspector Roy Robinson said: "Police removed a hardboard sign that made reference to the death of Margaret Thatcher, from a main arterial route into Enniskillen in April 2013."

It emerged amid criticism of police for failing to step in to remove a banner in Dungannon depicting ex-UVF leader Billy Wright and apparently gloating about the murders of four men in Cappagh in 1991.

Yesterday The Irish News again asked police to explain why the Ms Thatcher display was removed, but the Dungannon poster was not.

SDLP Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone, who reported the Wright banner to police some weeks ago, has branded the PSNI's different approaches as "rank hypocrisy".