The 1989 police investigation into the murder of John Devine was “seriously defective”, Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman has found.
The 37-year-old was murdered by loyalists on Fallswater Street in west Belfast on July 23 1989.
The father-of-three died after armed men entered his home and shot him a number of times at close range.
Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson has highlighted a “series of failures” in the investigation.
These include that a man prosecuted for Mr Devine’s murder almost three decades later should have been arrested and interviewed as a suspect at the time.
Mrs Anderson’s report is also critical of the then police force, the RUC’s wider suspect and arrest strategy, which she found resulted in police taking action against only two people on a list of 36 persons of interest, despite intelligence and other information which linked individuals to the murder.
The report identifies that house-to-house and witness inquiries were not adequately pursued and led to missed opportunities to gather evidence which may have assisted police to identify suspects or open up lines of inquiry, and that all available forensic opportunities were not fully exploited.
The investigation also found no evidence that the RUC alerted Mr Devine to the fact that his date of birth had been linked to the name John Devine, in a document found in two separate loyalist paramilitary intelligence caches.
Although the document contained a different address and photo, the police did not consider the potential risk presented to Mr Devine, including whether a “threat to life” warning was appropriate.
“Given the available evidence and other information gathered during my investigation, I consider the original RUC investigation to be seriously defective, and not capable of leading to the identification of those responsible,” she said.
Ms Anderson acknowledged that the RUC investigation of the murder was conducted at a time when policing resources in Troubles-related incidents were stretched and under significant pressure in a year when 81 people died.
She also found that there was no specific intelligence available to police that, if acted upon, could have prevented the murder of Mr Devine.
The Ombudsman concluded that Mr Devine was the victim of a campaign of sectarian violence mounted against the nationalist community.
“Loyalist paramilitaries alone were responsible for his murder,” she said.
“Given the significant failings in the RUC investigation, I believe that Mr Devine’s family were failed by police in their search for the truth regarding the perpetration of his murder.”
Solicitor Padraig O Muirigh, who acts for Mr Devine’s family, said they welcome the findings of the Ombudsmans’ report.
“Mrs Anderson has concluded that the failings in the RUC investigation of Mr Devine’s murder were so fundamental that the murder investigation was ‘incapable of detecting potential offenders and supporting a prosecution’,” he said.
“There were a litany of serious deficiencies identified in the Police Ombudsman investigation including a failure of RUC Special Branch to disseminate intelligence to the police investigation team, the failure to arrest and interview key suspects and multiple forensic shortcomings.
“These findings are a damning indictment of the RUC investigation into John Devine’s murder.
“The breadth and nature of these failings cannot be explained by mere incompetence.
“The Devine family have a long-held view that those involved in the murder were protected from prosecution by the RUC and that the security forces colluded with loyalist paramilitaries.
“That view has been reinforced by these findings. The Devine family commend Mrs Anderson and her staff for the diligent investigation they have conducted.”
