Minister meets NI police board over threats

The vice chairman of the North's policing board and the security minister met last night to discuss safeguarding members of bodies…

The vice chairman of the North's policing board and the security minister met last night to discuss safeguarding members of bodies set up to give local input into the running of policing.

Mr Denis Bradley, vice chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, met security minister Ms Jane Kennedy last night to discuss ongoing threats and intimidation of members of the District Policing Partnerships.

Condemning the threats he said: "There are people in our society who want to take us back to an era whose door should be firmly closed."

He said he had discussed with the minister "the issue of security for individuals" and the whole question of threats to the DPPs.

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On Thursday evening the PSNI warned the nine elected and independent nationalist or perceived nationalist members of the Cookstown District Policing Partnership (DPP) of the threat from "mainstream republicans aligned to the Provisional IRA".

The threats followed on the resignation from the Fermanagh DPP of independent member Mr Cathal O'Dolan, who faced a death threat from dissident republicans - a threat that was condemned by Sinn Féin.

Yesterday, the Sinn Féin MP Mr Martin McGuinness denied a claim by the PSNI chief constable Mr Hugh Orde that elements in the Provisional IRA were involved in intimidating nationalist members of Cookstown District Policing Partnership.