O'Loan to direct Hamill death case

Northern Ireland's new Police Ombudsman has said she will take over direct supervision of a complaint about the RUC's investigation…

Northern Ireland's new Police Ombudsman has said she will take over direct supervision of a complaint about the RUC's investigation into the killing of an Armagh man who was kicked to death by loyalists three years ago.

Ms Nuala O'Loan said she had met Mr Robert Hamill's family and the detectives investigating his death.

Mr Hamill's family has alleged that RUC officers stood by and failed to intervene when loyalists attacked him in Portadown and has demanded a full public inquiry.

A number of men have been charged in connection with Mr Hamill's death, but nobody has been convicted of killing him. In June a Belfast coroner, Mr James Leckey, called off an inquest because of fears for the lives of witnesses.

READ MORE

Mr Hamill's solicitor, Ms Rosemary Nelson, was killed by a loyalist paramilitary car bomb in Lurgan, Co Armagh, last year.