LOUGHINISLAND MASSACRE 1994 | SIX MEN MURDERED WATCHING IRELAND WORLD CUP MATCH

Collusion and cover-up?

BY LAURA FRIEL

Sinn Féin MLA Caitríona Ruane and Councillor Mickey Coogan with families of the Loughinisland victims

BY LAURA FRIEL

VITAL EVIDENCE was suppressed during the RUC investigation into the Loughlinisland massacre, according to new information from an eyewitness.
The revelation came as the publication of a report by the Police Ombudsman into the sectarian killings, already postponed for two years, was delayed once again.
Six Catholic men were killed and five more injured when loyalist gunmen attacked The Heights Bar in the County Down village of Loughlinisland in June 1994.
At the time, hopes were raised that the investigation would result in arrests after the killers failed to destroy the getaway car and it was found soon after the attack. Weeks later, the killers’ weaponry and boiler suits, balaclavas and gloves were also uncovered in a nearby village.
But no arrests were ever made and in 2006 - after it emerged that an RUC agent codenamed ‘The Mechanic” had supplied the getaway car - the families made an official complaint to the Police Ombudsman questioning the veracity of the original investigation and raising a suspicion of collusion.
Earlier, relatives seeking information were told by the RUC that the getaway car had been destroyed in 1996 and that was “normal practice”. They were also told that documents relating to the case had been destroyed while being stored in Gough Barracks.
Now further information has emerged after a key witness decided to tell her story. According to the witness, within hours of the killings she gave investigating officers a description of the getaway car and its driver.
The witness described the getaway vehicle as a red Triumph Acclaim and the driver as having pale blonde hair cut in a distinctive style. “I saw a full side and front profile of him. I would have recognised his face again no problem,” she said.
The car was carrying a number of passengers and was travelling at speed. The witness immediately concluded: “They were up to no good.” Minutes later, she heard there had been a gun attack at the bar.
The witness contacted the RUC and made a formal statement giving a detailed description of the car and getaway driver. She told the RUC she was willing to pursue the case but she was never called to attend an ID parade.
She was also surprised when the road on which she had seen the getaway car was never mentioned during RUC reconstructions or press releases.
Several years later, the witness became acquainted with an RUC officer, William Patterson, and while visiting his yard she saw a red Triumph Acclaim car covered by a tarpaulin.
Patterson routinely stored cars for the RUC that had been involved in accidents or used in crimes. “He had a big yard, garden and garage and had room for dozens of cars. At times it looked like a scrap yard,” she said.
Confronted by the witness, Patterson admitted the vehicle being ‘stored’ in his yard was the getaway car used in the Loughinisland attack. Patterson went further and pointed out a second car, a green Rover, which he claimed was also used by the assailants.
“The car had been sitting there for years. I saw it with my own two eyes. I touched the car. The policeman admitted to me that it was the car and that he had the other car there,” the witness said.
“He said to me not to be saying to anyone that the cars were there. I agreed but I was perturbed to see the car again. I would have been at his house plenty of times and the car was always sitting there,” she said. Later the witness said she noticed that the green Rover had been removed.
In 2008, the witness received a telephone call and was asked if she would take part in an ID parade but she was never called. She later learnt that a man had been arrested in England in connection with the Loughinisland killings.
The suspect had more than 70 convictions, including rape and fraud. In the 1990s, he received a substantial sentence for drug dealing but, curiously, it was reduced by Royal Prerogative of Mercy. British Military Intelligence has admitted that on release the prisoner was placed in a witness protection scheme in Britain.
Further evidence that the killers were being protected emerged when the witness was shown copies of her original statements by the Police Ombudsman’s investigators in 2009. There was no mention of the getaway car or description of the driver. The Ombudsman was asked to investigate this omission.
In January 2010, William Patterson was arrested by investigators from the Police Ombudsman’s office. He was interviewed about assisting an offender, perverting the course of justice and withholding information but the Public Prosecution Service decided not to pursue the case.
Local Sinn Féin MLA Caitríona Ruane said collusion and cover-up had always been suspected in the Loughinisland massacre.
“The families have waited long enough for truth and justice. Continuing delays in the publication of the Police Ombudsman’s report adds to their ordeal.”