SF critical of Ombudsman report

Sinn Féin Assembly Group leader Conor Murphy has said that a report by the Police Ombudsman finding no evidence of wrongdoing regarding the PSNI political raid on the Sinn Féin Offices in Stormont was deeply flawed.

"It simply repeats information given to it by the PSNI and passes no judgement on its reliability," said Murphy.

"The Ombudsman seems content to believe a cock and bull story from the PSNI that hundreds of PSNI personnel happened to be wearing riot gear at 9am in the morning when they were supposedly drafted in at the last minute to take part in the raid.

"They quote the apology from Hugh Orde but fail to identify the wrongdoing for which Mr Orde was publicly apologising.

"The fact is that the raid on Stormont was part of a politically motivated operation carried out by Special Branch to undermine the political process. The street theatre at Stormont with armoured jeeps and riot police was an essential part of the overall operation.

"I will be taking this matter back to the party's legal advisers and I intend to proceed further with this case."