Independent inquiry
``It will be up to the Chief Constable what he tells me and then a
number of us will decide what to tell everyone else.'' In April 1990
the then NIO Secretary of State Peter Brooke said it all when he
responded to a question about the possible publication of the
Stevens' inquiry into crown force collusion. And in this respect at
least the British minister's words were true, the Stevens inquiry was
never published and almost 10 years later remains shrouded in
official secrecy. Calls for a fully independent public inquiry
following the murder of human rights solicitor Rosemary Nelson
continue to gain widespread support both within Ireland and further
abroad. The response of RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan has fallen far
short of demands of public opinion within nationalist Ireland and the
international community of lawyers and human rights agencies.
Inviting British policeman David Phillips, the chief constable for
Kent and a FBI forensic expert to assist an investigation by the RUC
has done nothing to ally the fears of a community who suspect another
fiasco along the lines of the Stalker, Sampson and Stevens Inquiries.
Indeed there are question marks already hanging over Phillips. As
Sinn Féin's Dara O'Hagan pointed out, ``The actions of Ronnie Flanagan
in appointing Phillips to oversee the RUC investigation in no way
makes this inquiry independent or indeed acceptable. There are
question marks over the way Phillips' Kent Constabulary conducted the
inquiry into the Metropolitan Police investigation into the Stephen
Lawrence murder. At one point the Kent police `commended' their
Metropolitan colleagues. Conclusions which the recent MacPherson
report `roundly disagreed'.''
Flanagan's response has been dismissed as a PR exercise to give the
appearance of independence to an inquiry without the substance. The
publication of a report by the Independent Commission for Police
Complaints, who were forced to pull the plug on the RUC investigation
into allegations of harassment by Rosemary Nelson, strengthens the
resolve for an independent inquiry, free from RUC interference, into
the Lurgan solicitor's death. In the words of Rosemary Nelson's
husband Paul, if the RUC has already proven itself incapable of
investigating death threats against Rosemary ``how can my family
expect to have confidence in the RUC's ability or indeed their
willingness to probe into her murder''.
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