Northern Ireland

Complaint about PSNI document found close to loyalist's house upheld

Solicitor Michael Brentnall has raised questions about a Police Ombudsman report into the loss of a police document containing the names and addresses of republicans
Solicitor Michael Brentnall has raised questions about a Police Ombudsman report into the loss of a police document containing the names and addresses of republicans Solicitor Michael Brentnall has raised questions about a Police Ombudsman report into the loss of a police document containing the names and addresses of republicans

A DOCUMENT containing the names and addresses of republicans lost by a police officer was later found by an off-duty colleague who lives close to a Co Antrim loyalist.

Details were confirmed to the solicitor of a Co Antrim woman who made a complaint to the Police Ombudsman.

Investigators at Dr Michael Maguire’s office have now confirmed the woman’s complain has been upheld.

It is understood she was one of several people later visited by police and advised to increase their security.

In a letter the ombudsman’s office confirmed that an email containing names and addresses was lost after three officers were tasked to deliver a Parades Commission determination in the Rasharkin area.

They say that as well as printing out the determination, officer A also printed an email containing details of several members of a republican band linked to the parade.

He then travelled to Rasharkin with two other officers and passed the documents to a colleague, Officer B, who served the determination to one of the people named in the email.

The three officers then travelled to the home of a man believed to be a loyalist in Ballymoney “in relation to unrelated police matters” according to the ombudsman’s office.

Officers A and B spoke to the loyalist while a third, Officer C, remained in his vehicle.

The list of names and addresses was found the following morning by a fourth police officer, Officer D, who lives close to the loyalist.

The ombudsman said the email was found under the rear wheel of the Officer D’s car and later handed into the PSNI in Ballymoney.

The loyalist was later spoken to by ombudsman investigators as a witness and said that that neither of the officers had passed him the email and claimed it had not been dropped outside his door.

Officers A and B were formally interviewed under criminal caution.

Officer B denied having the email with him when he spoke to the loyalist in Ballymoney and also denied giving the document to him.

He was “unable to explain how the document got out of the police vehicle”

He denied being careless or reckless, “explaining that if the email had got out of the vehicle it was accidental”.

A file was later submitted to the Public Prosecution Service in relation to the actions of Officer B but it directed that no action should be taken.

The ombudsman’s office later decided that Officer B had failed in his duty “by failing to secure the document which contained sensitive personal information and was therefore in breach of the PSNI code of ethics”.

The ombudsman said the PSNIs Discipline Branch then “decided to address the matter under their performance regulations”.

Solicitor Michael Brentnall, who represents several people involved, said questions remained.

“However, the report did not address the reasons why these PSNI officers had printed off and were in possession of information in relation to a number of our clients, which was superfluous to any requirement in which they were dealing with at that time.

He said he “has been instructed in relation to civil actions against the PSNI regarding this loss of personal details.”