Loughinisland familes win first court battle

Loughinisland familes win first court battle

22 February 2012

THE families of those murdered in the Loughinisland massacre have cleared the first stage of their High Court challenge to a Police Ombudsman’s report into the killings.

The recent probe by Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson found insufficient evidence of security force collusion with the loyalist killers, who opened fire in the Heights Bar on June 18, 1994, killing six men.

But lawyers for the families claim the conclusions reached are flawed, irrational and wrongly define collusion.

On Monday a judge granted permission to seek a judicial review of an earlier denial of legal aid for the challenge. A full hearing on that preliminary issue will now take place in June.

Once that is decided the main challenge to the Ombudsman’s report is expected to follow.

This will focus on a Criminal Justice Inspectorate review of Troubles-related investigations.

With the main judicial review not thought to be completely dependant on the outcome of the legal aid case, proceedings are set to come before the court later this year.