Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's right-hand man is quitting to head up a new anti-corruption unit in Jamaica, it was revealed today.
The shock departure announced by senior director of investigations Justin Felice has heightened fears the organisation could be plunged into a leadership crisis.
With Mrs O'Loan herself standing down in November after overseeing some politically explosive investigations, insiders warned the authority could be left rudderless.
"These are the two people involved in the core business of handling complaints and investigations, and they're going within two months of each other," a source said.
"It will be a complete change, and where's the continuity?"
Among those being tipped as contenders for the stg£120,000-a-year Ombudsman's job is Al Hutchinson, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police chief who has just completed his role as Oversight Commissioner monitoring reforms to the force in Northern Ireland.
Others include Kathy O'Toole, the ex-Boston Police Commissioner now in charge of the recently formed Garda Inspectorate, and Dave Cox, a former senior Scotland Yard detective heading up the Historical Enquiries Team re-examining unsolved murders from the Troubles.
Whoever takes over will be working alongside a newly recruited director of investigations, as Mr Felice (51) leaves in August.
During more than four years in Belfast he was in charge of some of the Ombudsman's most high-profile inquiries.
He led the probe into the murder of former RAF man Raymond McCord Jr which in January revealed that a loyalist paramilitary gang in the city carried out up to 16 killings while being paid and shielded by Special Branch handlers.
Mr Felice, a former head of professional standards with Lancashire Constabulary, has specialised in intelligence handling and investigating alleged police corruption and unethical behaviour during a career spanning more than 30 years.
He will use this expertise when he takes charge of efforts to identify wrongdoing within the ranks in Jamaica. The force has been in the headlines over its mistaken declaration that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered.
Mr Felice admitted to mixed emotions at his decision to leave. "The new post is a tremendous opportunity to deal with the oversight of policing in a new environment with new challenges," he said.
"I will miss working here. Although I will be moving to Jamaica, I regard Northern Ireland as my home now and I will be keeping my base here."
Mrs O'Loan must now recruit his successor, even though her own regime is ending. She said: "Internationally, people are looking to Northern Ireland for expertise in the oversight of policing and in Justin they have found someone with a high level of skills and experience.
"My job now in the months I have left in the post is to find someone who can lead our investigation teams with the same skill as Justin did."
During her tenure Mrs O'Loan clashed repeatedly with unionist politicians and rank-and-file officers.
Her devastating findings that police were warned of a planned terrorist strike ahead of the 1998 Omagh bomb attack which killed 29 people, yet failed to alert officers on the ground, thrust her into a public row with former RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan.
But with uncertainty surrounding her successor, anxiety over the authority's future direction spread among staff after learning that Mr Felice is going too.
"There's going to be a new Ombudsman in November, just after a new director of investigations," said one.
"What will the new team's view be on things? There's going to be a complete change and people are worried we could end up in crisis."
PA