Police officer was unaware of murders in area where 40 people were kille

Posted By: April 29, 2017

Connla Young. Irish News. Belfast. Saturday, April 29, 2017

A POLICE officer told ombudsman investigators he was not aware of any murders in an area of Co Tyrone where more than 40 people were killed over four years in the 1990s.

An investigation found that the officer wrongly recorded the discovery of a gun, ammunition, and manuals near Dungannon last year as ‘property found’ rather than an ‘arms find’.

The items were uncovered by workmen at a house at Tamnamore in June and brought to a police station.

When asked by The Irish News about the arms find, the PSNI initially said it had “no knowledge” before later confirming that a weapon had been found.

A complaint was made by Relatives for Justice and Anthony Fox, whose parents Charlie and Tess were murdered by the UVF near Moy in 1992.

The ombudsman concluded that by logging the arms discovery as ‘property found’ it was not properly flagged up

to senior officers and the police press office.

The duty sergeant involved stated that he “was not aware of any murders back in the 1990s in the area and he had no thoughts of starting an investigation into this gun being linked to paramilitaries.”