Republican News · Thursday 26 June 2003

RUC members face discipline over Hamill killing

Two members of the PSNI, who were RUC members at the time Portadown nationalist Robert Hamill was kicked to death by a loyalist mob, have been the subject of internal PSNI disciplinary procedures.

The action follows a PSNI investigation, supervised by the Police Ombudsman's Office, into actions taken by some RUC members at the time of the sectarian killing. Hamill was fatally beaten by a mob of loyalists in Portadown in full view of the RUC on 27 April 1997.

It has also been reported that two high ranking RUC officers who were part of the squad that investigated the attack on Robert Hamill are being probed over their role in the original investigation. However no action can be taken against one of these as he has since retired.

A spokesperson for the Police Ombudsman's Office confirmed that investigations into several elements of the Hamill case are still ongoing.

Former RUC member Robert Atkinson and two others are due to appear in court charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice in relation to a telephone call to the house of a suspect hours after the attack.