A FORMER police chief has claimed that a senior member of the DUP sought to overturn the appointment of Sir Hugh Orde as chief constable.
The claims are made in a BBC NI documentary looking at the first 20 years of the PSNI.
PSNI – Twenty Years On The Frontline, examines how and why the change in policing came about and looks back at some of the events that have marked the first two decades of the PSNI.
In the hour long show presenter Stephen Nolan former Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan is one those interviewed.
Mr McQuillan claims he was approached by a senior member of the DUP and asked to take a judicial review to overturn the appointment of Sir Hugh Orde, who held the top position from 2002-2009.
Mr McQuillan says: “I was approached by a senior member of a unionist party and asked to take a judicial review to try and overturn his appointment.”
When pressed on which party, he answers: “It was the DUP of course.”
“They asked me if I was prepared to take a judicial review and I said I didn’t think it would succeed and secondly I wasn’t going to risk £30,000 on that and I was told money could be made available. At that point I realised, I didn’t hesitate, I just said ‘No. I’m not doing that’.”
When asked why they didn’t want Sir Hugh Orde in the job he said, “He wasn’t their man. That simple. It’s vying for position.”
The DUP told the programme this never happened.
East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson, who was on the panel that selected Sir Hugh, told yesterday's Sunday Life that he "knows of no one from the party who would've approached Alan McQuillan in such a manner."
The documentary also explores claims of collusion involving some RUC officers, the handling of flag protests and issues around the PSNI’s enforcement of Covid 19 regulations.
There will also be interviews with members of the PSNI who have lost family members and colleagues or been injured, as well as with former Chief Constables Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Sir Hugh Orde and Sir George Hamilton as well as current Chief Constable Simon Byrne.
The documentary will be broadcast tonight at 10.35pm.
