INTELLIGENCE linked to the murder investigation of Gerard `Jock' Davison was not forwarded after a PSNI officer "inadvertently pressed the wrong computer key".
The claim is revealed in a Police Ombudsman report into the circumstances of the 2015 killing.
Solicitor Michael Brentnall, of Brentnall Legal, last night branded the explanation for the failure to process the intelligence prior to the murder as "a preposterous assertion".
The report was only recently provided to Mr Davison's children after a request was made to a coroner.
Mr Davison was shot dead as he walked to work through the Markets area of south Belfast in May 2015.
Four months later his one-time friend Kevin McGuigan (53), also a former IRA man suspected by some of being involved in Mr Davison's murder, was shot dead outside his Short Strand home.
Before his death Mr McGuigan had denied any involvement in his former friend's murder.
Lawyers for Mr Davison's family say he attended a PSNI station in relation to a warning that his life was in danger around a month before he was shot.
In 2019 it was revealed that police received anonymous information suggesting there was a gun at an address in the Markets area two weeks before he was killed.
The report, which was produced by former Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire in 2019, confirms that a policewoman, known as Police Officer A, later submitted an intelligence form.
When investigating officers later identified that the intelligence submission "had not been progressed properly" the matter was referred to the Police Ombudsman.
The Police Ombudsman later established that a policeman known as Police Officer B was tasked with "progressing the intelligence form" and "he recorded that after processing the form, he returned it to Police Officer A's team to facilitate further enquiries".
"However, an audit conducted by Police Ombudsman investigators established that the form was not, in fact, returned to Police Officer A’s team," the ombudsman wrote.
When later interviewed under a misconduct caution Police Officer B said Police Officer A advised him by phone she was completing an intelligence submission.
He said she had asked for this to "be progressed as soon as possible as it was her team’s intention to search the property" referred to in the intelligence.
According to the ombudsman Police Officer B said "having completed his work on the intelligence submission, he fully intended to forward it to Police Officer A’s team to progress as requested".
Significantly this failed to take place.
"However, he said he inadvertently pressed the wrong computer key, which caused the submission to close rather than being forwarded to the intended recipient," the ombudsman wrote.
"He said he was unaware at the time that the submission had not been sent as intended."
In a statement Police Officer A said that she had not spoken to Police Officer B, "and had not told him or anyone else that a search would take place".
"Police Officer A insisted that she had no knowledge of a proposed search," the ombudsman wrote.
Mr Brentnall last night said: "The explanation that the PSNI have given to the Police Ombudsman is essentially that nothing was actioned about this weapon because a PSNI officer pressed the wrong button on his computer.
"This is a preposterous assertion.
"The PSNI will have to account for all the details of their acts and omissions in the inquest of Mr Davison, along with their procedures and policies regarding such intelligence."
The Police Ombudsman later submitted a misconduct report to the PSNI recommending that both officers concerned "be subject of disciplinary proceedings".
A spokesman for the PSNI said: "The Police Service of Northern Ireland accepted a number of recommendations made by the office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland following their investigation.
"These recommendations were reviewed and implemented as appropriate."
