RUC compo case ‘could name’ informers

Former members of the RUC police seeking compensation payments are threatening to publicly name killers who acted as informers.

As the first ten cases to be heard in a renewed post-traumatic stress lawsuit were identified, the most senior retired policeman involved in the action warned of the lengths they were prepared to go.

Scores of former RUC ‘handlers’ and other senior members of the force are planning to represent themselves as personal litigants after losing a class action.

Up to 5,500 RUC members had sued over how they were treated for anxiety and depression suffered during decades of exposure to violence.

They believed they secured victory two years ago when a judge ruled there had been systematic failures within the force.

But any hopes of a multi-million pound compensation award were then dealt a blow when ten test cases were rejected.

A challenge to the verdicts brought on generic issues and five of the lead cases was subsequently dismissed by the Court of Appeal last June.

With uncertainty surrounding the intention of thousands of those officers involved in the original case, a High Court judge is now planning to set them a deadline for confirming whether or not they want to continue.

A retired Special Branch officer, who also requested anonymity, said outside court: “This could end up bigger than Bloody Sunday when all the cans of worms are opened.”

A former deputy head of CID in Belfast said: “The guys are saying they will be relying on facts and situations which they were placed in, vis-a-vis looking after killers and murderers who were also known informants.

“Effectively a lot of them are going to use these type of scenarios to support their illness. They were subjected to dealing with this type of thing on a daily basis.

“That’s all going to be opened up in court, the names of informants and what the police were subjected to.”

Urgent Appeal