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28 August 2014

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RUC veteran’s appointment 4 months ago to head HET revealed only now

Appointment only emerged because of a Freedom of Information request by campaign group Relatives for Justice


A FORMER RUC officer’s appointment as head of the North’s controversial Historical Enquiries Team (HET) back in April has only emerged because of a Freedom of Information request by campaign group Relatives for Justice.

Several other former RUC officers in the PSNI are said to have oversight responsibilities with the HET, which is tasked with investigating alleged criminal acts by the RUC during the conflict.

Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Hanna took over the ‘cold case’ unit from Dave Cox, who resigned last year after a report by a police watchdog indicted the HET for not investigating cases involving state forces and agents with the same rigour as other cases.

Relatives for Justice spokesperson Mike Ritchie told the Irish News that people have had a poor experience of “so-called reviews” by the HET.

Given the damning report by the Inspectorate of Constabularies (HMIC) report in July 2013, Mike Ritchie said he thought there might have been more consideration given to the process of appointing a replacement head.

He added:

“The RFJ believes that the HET should cease operations and an entirely separate body established as proposed by the Consultative Group on the Past and the Haass/O’Sullivan proposals.”

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