Evidence from a new witness has prompted an investigation into the death of a teenage girl in a car driven by an off-duty RUC detective, it emerged yesterday.
The Police Ombudsman is to investigate the case of Alice McLoughlin, from Portadown, Co Armagh, who was 16 when she died in July 1991 from a gunshot wound after accepting a lift from Det-Con David Beattie.
A spokesman for the Ombudsman's Office said: "We carried out some initial inquiries to see if there are any issues to be addressed and we have now established that there should be a full investigation into the circumstances of Alice's death and the matters surrounding it. We are now seeking to put in place resources for such an investigation."
Mr Barrie Bradbury, spokesman for the "Justice for Alice" campaign group, said that fresh information had been passed to the Ombudsman's Office, including the name of a witness who had not previously been questioned.
"New information has recently been passed to the investigation team which is now part of the new inquiry," Mr Bradbury said. "The McLoughlin family renew their appeal for information that will enable it to be proved that Alice could not have been responsible for her own death."
Alice McLoughlin had been returning home from a loyalist band parade at Markethill in Co Armagh when she sustained a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead after being taken to Craigavon Area Hospital.
At the 1993 inquest, the coroner, Mr James Rodgers, recorded that the fatal gunshot wound was "consistent with self-infliction".
Mr Beattie gave evidence that the girl had been "staggering drunkenly in the middle of the road" when he picked her up. He said that while he was driving away from a cashpoint machine in Portadown she had grabbed his personal firearm and had shot herself.
In September 1993, Mr Beattie was found guilty of "disobedience to orders" at a disciplinary hearing in Belfast after he admitted being negligent in relation to keeping his weapon and ammunition.
The "Justice for Alice" campaign claims that independent forensic evidence has proved that, being left-handed, Alice McLoughlin could not have fired the shot which killed her, as the bullet had entered the right side of her head above her ear.
Mr Bradbury also disputed claims that she had been "staggering around drunk" on the night of her death.
"Five different individuals on that road at the same time allegedly say they saw Alice, and she was not thumbing a lift and was not drunk," he said.