Investigation Reports

New information adds weight to evidence linking RUC officers to assault: Police Ombudsman

An investigation by the Police Ombudsman’s Office has found new evidence about an attack on a man, during which he sustained injuries which led to his death.

PDF: Full Public Statement - "The circumstances surrounding the death of Mr John Hemsworth on 1 January 1998"

Significant failures in investigation of 1997 Sean Brown murder

The Police Ombudsman has concluded that the RUC investigation of the murder of 61-year-old Sean Brown from Bellaghy in County Derry/Londonderry in 1997 was incomplete and inadequate.

Full public statement: Significant failures in investigation of 1997 Sean Brown murder

No available evidence that terrorist attack on soldier could have been prevented

The Police Ombudsman's Office has said it has found no evidence that the murder of Stephen Restorick, the last serving soldier to be killed by the IRA in Northern Ireland, could have been prevented. However,...

Police failed to investigate Arlene Arkinson's disappearance properly

The Police Ombudsman's Office has found that police failed to properly investigate the disappearance of 15-year-old Arlene Arkinson from Castlederg in County Tyrone in 1994.

The murders at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland: Police Ombudsman report

The Police Ombudsman, Dr Michael Maguire, has published a report this morning which reveals police informants at the most senior levels within Loyalist paramilitary organisations were involved in an importat...

PDF: Loughinisland full public statement (revised August 2020)

No evidence Greysteel could have been prevented: Nuala O'Loan

A Police Ombudsman investigation has established that police did not have any prior knowledge which could have helped them prevent the terrorist attack in Greysteel.

No evidence of collusion in brothers' double murder, but investigation was brief and flawed: Police Ombudsman

The Police Ombudsman has found no evidence of security force collusion in the UVF murder of two young Catholic brothers in Co. Armagh in 1993, but has found that the police investigation of the murders, desp...

Full public statement: No evidence of collusion in brothers' double murder, but investigation was brief and flawed

Murder of Damien Walsh: “Significant investigative failures and collusive behaviours” by police

The Police Ombudsman, Mrs Marie Anderson, has identified significant investigative failures by the RUC in relation to the murder of 17-year-old Damien Walsh in 1993, as well as evidence of ‘collusive behavio...

PDF: Public statement - The Murder of Damien Walsh

Police could not have prevented IRA mortar attack

The Police Ombudsman has found no evidence that police were in possession of information which, if acted upon, could have prevented an IRA mortar attack in Newry 1992 in which a police officer was killed and...

PDF: Public statement

No evidence officer killed Alice McLoughlin

A two-year investigation by the Police Ombudsman's Office into the death of a young Portadown woman, who died from a bullet from an off-duty police officer's gun, has concluded that there is no evidence that...

Full public statement: No evidence officer killed Alice McLoughlin