THE PSNI has failed to order an external review into the case of a man whose body was found on the shores of Lough Neagh almost seven years after a recommendation from the Police Ombudsman.
Gerard Hampson’s naked remains were washed up on an isolated stretch of shoreline near Toome in January 2008, several weeks after he went missing.
A pathologist who carried out a post mortem examination on the 53-year-old said a possible cause of death was drowning and "there must be considerable suspicion around his death."
In 2012 former Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire recommended that the PSNI commission an external police force to carry out a detailed review to determine whether the case should be reinvestigated.
Four years later, in 2016, he said he remained of the view that “a detailed external review is necessary".
He also made a series of recommendations after an investigation linked to the case.
The PSNI last night confirmed that "it retained the investigation and as such no external review was carried out".
The damning ombudsman report revealed a catalogue of failures by PSNI officers investigating the case.
Eight officers were later disciplined.
At the time he went missing the 53-year-old was wanted for questioning in connection with a double abduction in Co Westmeath and shooting in Derry in 2007.
A brother-in-law of the late Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness, Marvin Canning, was charged in connection with the episode but the prosecution was later dropped.
Mr Hampson was a former republican prisoner who served a sentence for IRA activities and was connected to the anti-agreement 32-County Sovereignty Movement.
At a preliminary inquest hearing in April coroner Joe McCrisken said he believes the PSNI holds information that might “shed some light” on Mr Hampson’s death.
In an unusual move the coroner was questioned directly about the case by a member of Mr Hampson’s family.
He told relatives “you have been kept in the dark about a lot of this” later adding “your own solicitors are even placed in the dark”.
“We have some material and I have to be careful what I say about this, I promise you (it) will become clear,” he said.
Last month the PSNI handed over documents linked to the case after being given just hours to make the disclosure by Mr McCrisken at a subsequent hearing.
Assistant Chief Constable Barbara Gray last night said that “a number of options were explored following the ombudsman's recommendation”.
“A man was arrested in 2016 on suspicion of murder and PSNI retained the investigation and a team of officers conducted an internal review,” she said.
She said that following the review “a number of recommendations and newly identified investigative options were highlighted and implemented alongside a number of recommendations from the ombudsman's report.
“The ombudsman's office was informed of police actions and PSNI have had regular contact with Gerard's family since 2016,” she said.
She added that the “investigation remains open”.
Sara Duddy from the Pat Finucane Centre, who has worked closely with Mr Hampson's family, claimed the family had been "drip fed tiny pieces of information that have only strengthened their suspicions that their father’s death involved foul-play".
"However, because of lost investigative opportunities stemming from the PSNI’s failures at the time, they may never know how or why they father died.”
