A report by the Police Ombudsman in relation to the murder of republican informer Denis Donaldson has concluded that there was “corporate failure” by the PSNI in the circumstances which preceded his murder.
Denis Donaldson was shot dead in a remote cottage near Glenties in April 2006.
The Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland has found no evidence that police leaked information about the whereabouts of former Sinn Féin member and self-declared informant Denis Donaldson prior to his murder in County Donegal on April 4th 2006.
Mrs Marie Anderson also found that the PSNI had not sought to implicate members of Mr Donaldson’s family in his murder, and that rather than impeding the investigation of his murder by An Garda Siochana (AGS), the PSNI had provided “a high level of co-operation and assistance.”
However, she stated that the PSNI should have carried out a further risk assessment of any potential threats to Mr Donaldson’s life following the publication of a media article which included photographs of him outside the cottage in Glenties where he was murdered just over two weeks later.
In conclusion, Ms Anderson’s report states that she is of the view that the family’s concerns about the steps taken by PSNI in the management of this threat to Mr Donaldson are legitimate and justified.
A spokesperson for the Donaldson family said:
“For reasons that remain unexplained, and unaccounted for, it is reported that the PSNI abandoned its routine practice of risk assessments which had apparently followed Denis’s exposure in December 2005.
“This course of action was taken at precisely the moment when the risk to Denis’s life was at its greatest. This is a flagrant breach of Denis’s Article 2 right to life and the PSNI’s duty of care to him.
“There were repeated attempts to close down this inquiry. The key question has always been: did the PSNI do enough to protect Denis’s life. The Ombudsman’s answer today was: no, they did not.
“No-one has any comprehension of the direct harm and damage to our family caused by the actions and omissions of certain police officers, and others, over the last 16 years.”
You can read the full report here
