A number of “wrongful acts and omissions” by RUC officers obstructed the investigation into a sectarian murder in Co Armagh almost 30 years ago, an inquiry has found.
The report on the case of Robert Hamill, published on Monday, criticised aspects of the investigation, including a failure to properly search the home of a key suspect.
However, it found that police officers who were in a Land Rover near the scene of the fatal attack “did not condone or collude” with those responsible.
Hamill (25), a Catholic father of three, and a friend were beaten by loyalists as they walked along Market Street in Portadown in April 1997 after a night out. He suffered serious head injuries and died 11 days later.
The case was the subject of a public inquiry, the terms of reference for which were announced in 2004, into whether the actions of RUC officers had facilitated Hamill’s death or obstructed the murder investigation.
The delay in releasing the 290-page report, which cost some £33 million (€39 million), was caused by live legal proceedings. These concluded in 2024 when former police officer Robert Cecil Atkinson, from Brownstown Road in Portadown, was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Diane Hamill, a sister of Robert Hamill, said his family “have some reservations” about aspects of this report, but “feel totally vindicated by the clear and unequivocal findings of the panel”.
“It documents multiple and shocking wrongdoing, some of it delivered by state agencies,” she said. “These failings have led to those who murdered our brother evading justice.”
She said the family was disappointed the inquiry “could not agree on the consequences of the police officers in the Land Rover failing to intervene while Robert was being attacked”.
“We agree with the late chairman that these officers were guilty of a wrongful omission in failing to keep a watch on the junction where the assault was taking place,” she said.
“I want to reiterate that the people who killed our brother were never fully held accountable due to the obstructive conduct of the state justice agencies.”
The report states that “Robert Hamill had been assaulted before the Land Rover officers got out of their vehicle. However, they were not aware of the assault and after they had got out of their vehicle, they attempted to restore order. They did not in any way condone or collude with attackers.”
The report did say that serving RUC officers were guilty of wrongful omissions and that those omissions arose “both at the scene and during the initial investigation”.
It found that Atkinson was guilty of a “wrongful act” for making a telephone call to a suspect, which resulted in that individual destroying, or putting beyond the reach of police, the clothes he was wearing on the night Hamill was murdered.
The report was critical of how an investigation into the telephone call by Atkinson to the suspect was handled.
“The failure to treat the tip-off allegation as part of the murder investigation was negligent.”
Other RUC flaws highlighted by the report included a failure of officers to carry out an initial debriefing both at the scene and immediately on return to the police station, “with multiple officers finishing their shifts or going on to other duties without recording what had happened. This had a serious and significant impact on the murder investigation and these omissions were negligent.” – PA