The Police Ombudsman is holding up the publication of its own report into the murder of Lurgan-based investigative journalist Martin O’Hagan.

The 51-year-old father of three was shot dead by an LVF loyalist death squad in September 2001 as he made his way home from a night out with his wife in the north Armagh town. No one has been convicted of his murder, which is believed to have involved British agents.

On a Friday evening at around eight o’clock, Mr O’Hagan went for his regular weekend drink with his wife, Marie. They walked hand in hand from their house on the edge of Lurgan to the Carnegie Inn, where they had been 29 years previously. He was Catholic, she was Protestant. They had raised three daughters since then. He worked in the Belfast office of the Dublin-based tabloid newspaper the Sunday World.

Shortly after 10, the O’Hagans left the pub and headed for home, walking past a vehicle parked a few doors down from their house. Behind them, it started to crawl forward. The gunman was in the back. He leaned out of the window and started shooting. Marie believes her husband must have flung her to safety in the hedge of their neighbours’ garden while the bullets flew. O’Hagan fell, struck in the back by three bullets. He was able to tell Marie to get an ambulance but by the time she got back, her husband was dead.

The murder and the failure of the subsequent investigation were referred to the Police Ombudsman by the Public Prosecution Service in 2013, however, 13 years on, the investigation report has yet to be made public.

In December last year ombudsman powers were delegated to senior staff after the retirement of Marie Anderson.

Fresh concerns have now been raised after ombudsman Chief Executive Hugh Hume recently wrote to the murdered journalist’s brother, Fintan O’Hagan, saying he believes it is “appropriate and important that reports of this significance are issued by a sitting Police Ombudsman, with the full authority that comes from that”.

Mr O’Hagan said his family is now being “fobbed off”.

“The Police Ombudsman has to release its report now - for too long our family has been denied justice,” he said.

“We have been repeatedly informed that the investigation was complete, only for publication to be delayed and delayed again. Now we are being fobbed off with another excuse not to publish.”

Mr O’Hagan said the police investigation into his brother’s murder “was clearly seriously flawed”.

“The fact that in nearly a quarter of a century no one has been brought to justice for our brother’s murder is an outrage,” he said.

“We need the ombudsman’s report and then we must have an independent public inquiry.”

Niall Murphy, of KRW Law, said the O’Hagan family was told in 2024 the Ombudsman report had been completed.

“Our clients repose very serious concerns as to the failure by police to secure the convictions of those responsible for Martin’s heinous murder,” he said.

“Our clients are concerned that the status of suspects as state agents has been prioritised in their protection from prosecution.

“It is imperative that this report is published immediately.”

A 100-page report by Amnesty published in June 2025, ‘Occupational Hazard? Threats and Violence against Journalists in Northern Ireland’, documented how journalists continue to be regularly subjected to violence and threats including death threats. The report revealed there were no prosecutions related to threats to journalists from paramilitaries, which made up the majority of the threats.

The NUJ has described the situation as “intolerable”.

Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, said the union fully supports the call by Amnesty International, Mr O’Hagan’s family and lawyer for the Police Ombudsman to release the long-delayed report into the investigation of his brutal murder.

Mr Dooley said: “We have been consistent in our demands for an external, independent investigation into the murder of Martin and the policing failures in this case. The long-delayed report of the Police Ombudsman has been cited as a reason why our demands have not been considered.

“This delay is intolerable and without justification.

“Martin O’Hagan’s murder is a matter of the upmost importance and the report must be published without delay.”

Martin O’Hagan was secretary of the NUJ Belfast and District branch at the time of his murder. The branch has long campaigned for justice.

Kevin Cooper, NUJ Belfast and District branch vice chair, said: “Members cannot believe that, once again, the O’Hagan family are being told to wait for answers. We demand the immediate publication of this long-awaited report.”