POLICE last night revealed they had identified 619 people who were either in the queue or car park outside the Greenvale Hotel on the night three teenagers lost their lives.
Detectives said 267 of those had been fully interviewed and they would speak to others over the coming days.
Details emerged as the chair of a policing partnership group claimed she raised the initial response of officers outside the Cookstown hotel with the PSNI eight days before the force referred itself to the Police Ombudsman.
SDLP Mid Ulster councillor Denise Mullen, who chairs the local Policing and Community Safety Partnership, said she spoke to police the day after the tragedy.
Morgan Barnard (17), Lauren Bullock (17) and Connor Currie (16), died in a crush outside the Greenvale on St Patrick’s night.
Read more:
- 'Service of healing' held at Greenvale Hotel where three teens died
- Cookstown crush victim Lauren Bullock was 'role model for positivity, good relationships and kindness'
- Cookstown: Connor Currie was 'much loved and highly thought of'
- Cookstown: Morgan Barnard's father says he was 'so thankful for the small things in life'
Earlier this week the PSNI referred itself to the Police Ombudsman after it emerged that after first arriving at the hotel, officers left without intervening.
“Following their initial assessment they made attempts to establish more detail and information about what was happening and subsequently withdrew to await further police support,” Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin said.
He added that "when the first ambulance arrived police forward in support of them".
"The timing and nature of police actions during this period require further investigation to fully establish the facts."
Ms Mullen, who arrived at the hotel shortly after the tragedy unfolded, said she raised the initial response with police after speaking to young people who were present.
“Young people had told me that the police had arrived and sat in their car at the bottom of the car park,” she said.
"I raised that the next day."
The SDLP woman also questioned why it took the PSNI until Tuesday of this week - nine days after the tragedy - to refer itself to the Police Ombudsman.
Asked yesterday when police became aware officers had been at the hotel but then withdrawn, a spokeswoman said: "The matters in relation to the police response to the tragic events at the Greenvale Hotel on 17 March are for consideration of the Police Ombudsman. Out of respect to their investigation it would not be appropriate to comment."
Meanwhile, the PSNI's Major Investigation Team last night provided an update on their investigation.
Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray said that by Tuesday evening they had identified 619 people who were in the queue or car park on St Patrick's night and 267 "have now been fully interviewed using appropriately trained detectives".
“We will be continuing to interview others over the next few days.
“We are very aware that this continues to be an extremely traumatic time for all of those who were at the Greenvale Hotel and witnessed the terrible events of that night. We have taken considerable steps to make it as easy as possible for them to provide their statements to police.
“Over 100 people attended the dedicated room at Burnavon Arts Centre and spoke to officers who are specially trained in interviewing young people. This facility has now closed and instead we are speaking to students at their respective schools. We are working closely with the local principals to accommodate this.
“As part of our investigation we have utilised the Major Incident Public Portal to allow people to upload mobile phone footage and images of the evening. We have been downloading mobile phone footage from people at the scene by using one of our Cyber Support Vehicles in Cookstown.
“It is still really important for anyone who has not yet contacted us to please come forward and work with police to help build an accurate picture of what happened that night.
“I would again reassure anyone with concerns, the focus of our investigation is not the age of people who were at the event – it is about trying to find answers for the families of the three teenagers who tragically died.”
