Officer Faces Prosecution Over Troubles Memorial Incident
A police officer is set to be prosecuted for actions linked to a Troubles memorial during the pandemic, raising significant legal concerns.
Belfast, Northern Ireland, Police, Troubles, Prosecution, Covid-19
Belfast: So, here’s the scoop. A police officer is in hot water for allegedly trying to mess with justice during a memorial for the Troubles. This all went down during the pandemic, and now prosecutors are stepping in.
The whole thing ties back to a memorial service on the Ormeau Road in February 2021. It was a somber event marking the anniversary of a tragic attack where five people lost their lives. But things got a bit messy when police started questioning the crowd, suspecting they were breaking Covid rules.
Two officers faced some serious internal discipline after a survivor from a past shooting was arrested at the memorial. This led to a High Court ruling that found the disciplinary actions against those officers were not lawful. It seems the higher-ups were worried about Sinn Féin pulling support for policing in Northern Ireland.
This ruling was a big deal and even contributed to the resignation of the former PSNI chief constable, Simon Byrne, last September. Now, the prosecution announced by the Public Prosecution Service isn’t directly about what happened that day, but it’s still serious.
The officer being prosecuted is accused of creating a false threat report. This was supposedly to back up a request for a witness anonymity order related to the original incident. And get this, the alleged offense happened months after the memorial.
The PSNI’s Anti-Corruption Unit looked into this, and now the PPS is preparing court papers. They haven’t set a date for the officer’s first court appearance yet.
Interestingly, the PPS also decided not to prosecute a civilian for allegedly assaulting police during that same incident. They found there just wasn’t enough evidence to go forward with that case.
As for the officer facing prosecution, the PSNI is reviewing their duty status. They’ve made it clear that prosecutorial decisions are up to the Public Prosecution Service, and they won’t comment further since it’s an ongoing legal matter.