Raymond McCord Jnr murder probe anniversary: Why no Special Branch arrests?

UVF gang leader and Special Branch agent Mark Haddock

TODAY'S fourth anniversary of the Police Ombudsman's probe into Special Branch collusion with the Mount Vernon UVF has raised the question of why there have been no arrests of Special Branch handlers of the UVF murderers of Raymond McCord Junior in 1997.

An Fhirinne, the group campaigning to highlight collusion between the British crown forces and unionist paramilitary death squads, wants answers from the British authorities.

On November 9th 1997, members of the Mount Vernon UVF, in north Belfast, kicked Raymond McCord Junior to death in a vicious attack. The killing was ordered by Special Branch agent Mark Haddock.

Haddock's UVF unit is believed to have been responsible for up to 16 killings.

Robert McClenaghan of An Fhirinne said today:

On January 22^nd 2007, the then Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan published the results of Operation Ballast, an investigation into collusion between the RUC and UVF, in relation to the murder of Raymond McCord Junior in 1997.

Four years on and what has happened?

The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) made a number of arrests of loyalists and then the case was taken from them by the PSNI C2 unit.

Why have there been no high-profile arrests of those Special Branch personnel implicated in operation Ballast?

Is this another case of justice delayed, justice denied to protect agents of the British state engaged in the murder of its own citizens?