Police bias led to the IRA being wrongly blamed for a Belfast pub bombing in 1971 in which 15 people died, a report from the Police Ombudsman has concluded.
More than 16 other people were injured in the blast at the bar on North Queen Street on Saturday December 4th, 1971.
The bombing was originally blamed on republicans but it later emerged loyalists were responsible.
A complaint made by representatives of some of the families of those killed in the atrocity had alleged that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) colluded in the attack, failed to properly investigate it and provided false information to suggest it was an ‘IRA own goal.’
The report into the bombing, which was published this afternoon by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson, has found no evidence that the RUC had assisted those responsible for the blast.
However, it says the police investigation into the bombing had such a predisposition towards the view the IRA were responsible that this became an "investigative bias." The report concludes that while this falls short of collusion it precluded an effective investigation of the atrocity.
The investigation also found the RUC failed to conduct an effective investigation into the atrosity after members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) claimed responsibility for the bombing in 1977 and 1978.
Children and pensioners were among the 15 who died in the blast - the single biggest loss of life in Northern Ireland until the Omagh bomb. The 80-page report has today been presented to the families of those killed.
The Ombudsman's investigation has established that the initial intelligence and information which police received presented them with a confusing picture as to who had carried out the attack. It has found that in the weeks following the blast the RUC became unduly influenced by information which suggested that Republican paramilitaries had been responsible and failed to give adequate consideration to the possible involvement of loyalist paramilitaries.
“The police investigation had a clear predisposition to the erroneous ‘own goal’ theory. This was perhaps in some way understandable given the extent of IRA bombings and attacks at the time. However, the investigative bias leading to a failure to examine properly evidence and intelligence attributing the bombing to loyalist paramilitaries undermined both the investigation and any confidence the bereaved families had in obtaining justice," said Mr Hutchinson.
“Inconsistent police briefings, some of which inferred that victims of the bombing were culpable in the atrocity, caused the bereaved families great distress, which has continued for many years,” he added.
Shortly after the bombing, then junior minister for home affairs John Taylor said forensic evidence supported the theory that it was the work of the IRA because loyalists were too "mature" to carry out such an attack.
Robert Campbell, the driver of the car used in the bombing and a member of the UVF was given 15 life sentences after he was convicted of the bombing in 1978. He remains the only person ever to have been convicted in relation to the bombing.
Three years ago, Paul Goggins, the last direct rule minister to handle justice powers in Northern Ireland before devolution earlier this year, apologised on behalf of the British government for the untrue rumours circulated in the immediate aftermath of the bombing.
Speaking today a relative of one of the victims, Pat Irvine, said: "This is the total exoneration of the victims, the survivors and all of the families, they were completely innocent."
"Today is a victory for all the families of all the victims throughout Northern Ireland," she added.
Sinn Féin said the Ombudsman's report vindicated the long campaign by the families of those killed for the truth.
However, the party's assembly member for North Belfast Gerry Kelly also said there were still huge questions to be answered by members of the military and unionist and British politicians of the time.
