Police failures to properly investigate the suspected sectarian murder of a north Belfast woman 47 years ago are “shocking and disgraceful”, the High Court has ruled.
A judge declared that the PSNI has breached a legal duty to take steps to bring anyone responsible for the brutal death of Rosaleen O’Kane to justice.
Ms O’Kane’s badly burnt and naked body was discovered at her Cliftonpark Avenue flat in September 1976.
Despite detectives receiving information which named three individuals as potentially involved in setting fire to the apartment, there is no evidence they were ever arrested.
In a scathing assessment of how the probe has been handled, Mr Justice Humphreys described the level of inactivity as egregious and inexplicable.
He said: The manner in which this investigation was conducted was considerably worse than I had initially found.
“For a period of almost 50 years to elapse without obvious suspects being arrested, interviewed or even spoken to is frankly both shocking and disgraceful.”
Ms O’Kane’s family believe she may have been killed by a loyalist paramilitary gang targeting innocent Catholics in the area at the time.
The 33-year-old had a fractured skull and more than one seat of fire was located in the flat.
Following her funeral two police officers allegedly indicated that she had been murdered.
It was even suggested that ‘black magic’ may have been involved.
No-one has ever been prosecuted for her death, but in 2002 police informed relatives that a re-investigation was to be carried out.
Since then, the case has been passed from the Historical Enquiries Team to the PSNI’s Serious Crime Review Team and then the Legacy Investigations Branch (LIB).
Following her funeral two police officers allegedly indicated that she had been murdered.
It was even suggested that ‘black magic’ may have been involved.
No-one has ever been prosecuted for her death, but in 2002 police informed relatives that a re-investigation was to be carried out.
Since then, the case has been passed from the Historical Enquiries Team to the PSNI’s Serious Crime Review Team and then the Legacy Investigations Branch (LIB).
Ms O’Kane’s sister, Kathleen Graham, issued judicial review proceedings against the PSNI, claiming the force had breached an obligation under Section 32 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 to detect crime and bring offenders to justice.
At the centre of the challenge was information provided to detectives back in 1976 by an unidentified man referred to as KW1.
He claimed three other individuals had been engaged in activity in the north Belfast area which was “suspiciously like” the incident which caused Ms O’Kane’s death.
In 2002 police identified a need to speak to KW1 but failed to do anything about it, the court heard.
With checks confirming that KW1 died in 2011, an assessment was made that nothing more could be done about his statement.
Ms Graham’s barrister argued that detectives had effectively given up on pursuing a lead in a case described as a “whodunit mystery”.
Counsel for the Chief Constable disputed there had been any abdication of investigative responsibilities.
It was stressed that police are dealing with 1,100 legacy cases which require operational choices based on resources.
However, Mr Justice Humphreys determined the situation was worse than when he previously stated that the family had been treated appallingly and “pushed from pillar to post”.
The deficiencies he highlighted included:
:: The failure from the outset to treat Ms O’Kane’s death as a murder investigation.
:: The lack of any action between 1976 and 2002 concerning the identified suspects.
:: Even when their addresses were identified, nothing was done.
:: The case has sat untouched with LIB for the last seven years.
Granting declaratory relief, the judge held: “The repeated failures to act in this case by taking steps which were deemed by senior officers to be necessary are both egregious and inexplicable.
“I am satisfied that there has been a failure to comply with section 32(1)(d) of the 2000 Act in the failure to take measures to bring offenders to justice.”
Outside court, Ms Graham spoke of her vindication at the outcome.
She said: “The judge accepted what we have always believed - the police did not do what they should have done.
“If they had done their job right there was a good chance whoever did this would have been brought to justice.” ends