Justice for Hamill family over police collusion

The family of Robert Hamill have called for the publication of a public inquiry report into his murder after a former RUC policeman was jailed for colluding with a loyalist suspect.

They have also spoken of their sadness that their mother didn’t live to see justice for her son (pictured, right), a 25-year-old Catholic who was beaten to death by a loyalist mob on a Portadown street.

Retired RUC man Robert Cecil Atkinson (pictured, left), who watched as the brutal murder was taking place, was convicted this week for covering up a phone call he made to the home of one of the suspects.

Atkinson was jailed at Craigavon Crown Court, where Judge Patrick Lynch KC told the pensioner “it’s a disgrace that you as a serving police officer should stoop so low as to deliberately mislead an investigation which you knew concerned a serious assault you had witnessed.”

Robert Hamill was subject to the unprovoked and savage attack on April 27, 1997 for no reason other than his religion.

Atkinson was one of four RUC members (now PSNI) who watched from an armoured vehicle. Robert died of his injuries on May 8, 1997.

His family said: “Despite the fact of the presence of a police Land Rover at the scene nobody was convicted of the murder of our brother.

“Worse than that one of the Police Officers who was present has now, 27 years later, been convicted of an offence in relation to our brother’s murder.”

A public inquiry into Mr Hamill’s death was carried out and a report completed in 2011 but it has not been published because of criminal charges being brought.

“While it has been a long 27 years since our brother’s murder and these criminal proceedings have taken 13 years to be complete, for Robert’s family our grieving goes on and will stay with us forever, as will the sadness we feel that our mother never lived to see some semblance of justice for her son, no matter how minimal.”

Atkinson had admitted that he had conspired with two others to pervert the course of justice.

The judge said today on Friday that Atkinson is “the only person in this courtroom” who could reveal the contents of a call he made to the home of the murder suspect within hours of the attack taking place.

It had been alleged that Atkinson had warned the loyalist “to dispose of his clothing…in anticipation that the police would inevitably regard him as a suspect, which indeed they did”.

Judge Lynch noted that Atkinson, who continues to receive a full police pension, has never shown any cooperation and “even now will not shed light on the fateful phone call.”

“The public are entitled to expect the highest degree of probity from those entrusted to police and enforce the law,” the judge told Atkinson and declared: “You have been a disgrace to the uniform.”

“You continued to serve as a police officer for years afterwards as a criminal because there’s no other description for you,” the judge concluded as he jailed Atkinson.

Robert Hamill’s murder was the subject of a public inquiry over the RUC’s failure to intervene to halt the attack. A total of six individuals were charged with the murder but none were convicted.

The family have confirmed they have asked their law firm, PJ McGrory and Co, to contact the British government to set a date for the publication of the public inquiry report.

Urgent Appeal