A senior policeman is investigating claims that PSNI officers failed to follow up calls in an investigation into the horrific rape of a 15-year-old girl at the weekend.
Two callers to a radio phone-in show in Northern Ireland said they had contacted police with information that could help identify two people wanted for the brutal assault in west Belfast.
The attackers confronted their victim, who is from the North of England, and three boys she was with early on Saturday on the Blacks Road, forcing them to hand over their mobile phones and cash.
One of the men, who was armed with a screwdriver, dragged the girl into a petrol station forecourt where they subjected her to a harrowing sexual assault.
The boys were beaten, threatened and forced to watch. They were then ordered to go to the nearby Colin Valley Golf Complex where the girl was raped again. One of the boys managed to break free and alert the police.
It was confirmed yesterday that one of the attackers not only phoned the girl's mother after the rape but also texted her.
In a surprising twist, a male caller to BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Showtoday claimed he had contacted the Police Service of Northern Ireland, after believing he had seen the attackers and could identify them.
However, officers had not followed up his phone call. Another caller, a taxi driver, said he was also given a detailed description of one of the attackers by a passenger which matched a photofit and other details which could help the investigation.
Again, he claimed there was no follow-up from police to his initial phone call.
It is understood both callers passed on the details of their calls to Chief Superintendent Ken Henning of the PSNI after the show after he vowed to get to the bottom of their claims.
PA