Judgement reserved in RUC's 'Derry Four' judicial review challenge

Derry’s Pat Finucane Centre has welcomed what it described as the “robust rejection” of the judicial review challenge to the Police Ombudsman’s ‘Operation Farrier’ report.

The report, published in September 2022, concluded four young Derry men: Stephen Crumlish, Michael Toner, Gerry McGowan, and Gerry Kelly, arrested in 1979, had been treated unfairly and made ‘confessional’  statements which were not voluntary according to the standards of the time.

In the report, Ombudsman, Marie Anderson, said the four had been subjected to a “coercive and oppressive atmosphere” and not given an opportunity to have legal representation before signing a total of 21 ‘confessional’ statements.

A retired RUC officer subsequently mounted a judicial review challenge to the report.

A spokesperson for the Pat Finucane Centre said: “Over the past two days, the Pat Finucane Centre has followed the judicial review challenge by a retired police officer regarding the publication of the Police Ombudsman public statement into the miscarriage of justice cases of the Derry Four, Messrs Stephen Crumlish, Michael Toner, Gerry mcGowan, and Gerry Kelly.

“The Pat Finucane Centre lodged the complaint on behalf of the Derry Four with the Ombudsman, following their directed acquittal by the Lord Chief Justice in 2003.

“The Ombudsman’s report titled ‘Operation Farrier’ was published in June 2022.

“The Pat Finucane Centre, on behalf of the Derry Four, welcomes the robust rejection of the challenge by both lawyers for the Derry Four and lawyers for the Ombudsman in court this week. Judgement is reserved in the case.

“Lawyers for the Derry Four submitted to the court yesterday that any restrictions on the report would have a devastating impact on their clients.

“Over the next three days the same court will now hear the legal team for the Police Ombudsman reject two further police challenges to the public statements by the Ombudsman in Operations Greenwich and Achille,” it concluded.

Published on January 14, 2022, the Ombudsman's ‘Operation Greenwich’ report examined 19 murders and two attempted murders carried out by the UDA/UFF between 1989 and 1993. These included The murder of Eddie Fullerton at Buncrana, County Donegal, on May 25, 1991 and the murder of Patrick Shanaghan at Castlederg, County Tyrone, on August 12, 1991.

The ‘Operation Greenwich’ report confirmed there was evidence of "collusive behaviour" by some police officers.

On February 8, 2022, Ombudsman Anderson issued a public statement titled ‘Operation Achille’ which identified significant investigative and intelligence failures and “collusive behaviours” by the RUC in relation to a series of murders and attempted murders by the UDA/UFF in South Belfast in the 1990s.