Northern Ireland's chief constable ordered to conduct independent investigation into alleged state collusion with a loyalist gang

At a hearing of the Court of Appeal in Belfast (Irish: Béal Feirste) last week, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; Irish: Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann) were ordered to conduct an independent investigation into alleged state collusion with a loyalist gang. Lord Chief Justice Declan Morgan rejected an appeal by former PSNI chief constable George Hamilton against a 2017 judgement that the police's failure to conduct an overarching examination of state collusion with the Glenanne Gang was inconsistent with its human rights obligations. 

The Glenanne Gang was a unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) which included rogue British security force personnel among its members. Twenty-five British soldiers and police officers have been named as purported members of the gang. They are said to have been involved in some 130 sectarian murders during the 1970's and 1980's. The name "Glenanne gang" is derived from the farm at Glenanne (near Markethill, County Armagh) that was used as the gang's arm dump and bomb-making site. They operated mostly in the counties of Tyrone (Irish: Contae Thír Eoghain) and Armagh (Irish: Contae Ard Mhacha), in the north of Ireland. Atrocities they are blamed for include the Miami Showband massacre and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The independent Historic Enquiries Team (HET) had partially completed a probe into the activities of the Glenanne Gang but its work was halted by PSNI commanders. That PSNI decision to stop the HET review was challenged by judicial review by the family of one of the gang's victims.

The decision of the Court of Appeal to order an independent investigation was welcomed by families, friends and relatives of the victims of the Glenanne Gang. Supporters of the victims held banners outside of the Court. A family member of one of the victims said: "We all knew there was collusion. We have been vindicated because we were called liars in the past. It has taken this long, people here have waited over 40 years for something like this to happen - it's a disgrace."

Image: Edward Barnard, whose brother Patrick was murdered by the Glenanne gang, speaks to media outside of Court of Appeal.