Inquiry finds police failings in Robert Hamill murder investigation but no collusion

An inquiry into the sectarian murder of Robert Hamill has found police officers who were in a vehicle near the attack did not condone or collude with the attackers.

However, the inquiry said there were multiple police failings in the investigation, including a tip-off to a suspect to destroy the clothing he wore that night.

The report, published on Monday, external, highlighted multiple wrongful omissions in the subsequent murder investigation including a failure to properly search the home of a key suspect.

Robert Hamill was 25 when he died after he was beaten by loyalists in Portadown, County Armagh, in 1997.

The inquiry concluded in 2009 and its report was completed in 2011 but the findings could not be published until three prosecutions in connection with the case concluded.

The inquiry concluded: "We find that Robert Hamill had been assaulted before the Land Rover officers got out of their vehicle.

"However, they were not aware of the assault and after they had got out of their vehicle, they attempted to restore order.

"They did not in any way condone or collude with attackers."

Although the inquiry found that the four officers in the police Land Rover could not have prevented the murder, the police investigation was flawed – both at the scene and in the days that followed.

"The inquiry found that serving RUC [Royal Ulster Constabulary] officers were guilty of wrongful omissions and that those omissions arose both at the scene and during the initial investigation," it said.

The inquiry concluded that some of the mistakes in the investigation were negligent, while others were deliberate.

The 290-page report followed an inquiry which cost approximately £33m.

The actions of the officers in the Land Rover have been the subject of many claims and counter-claims in the past three decades.

Given how close they were to the scene, questions have been asked about why they did not intervene sooner.

The inquiry found that they were "distracted talking to two members of the public".

On whether they could have done more, the three-person inquiry panel did not have a unanimous view.

Two members concluded that the officers in the police vehicle were not guilty "of any wrongful act or omission in relation to the death of Robert Hamill".

However, on this issue the chairperson Sir Edwin Jowitt "expressed a dissenting view".

The attack happened in the early hours of Sunday 27 April 1997.

At about 01:20 BST he left a dance at St Patrick's Hall and walked towards the town centre.

Different versions of events have been given for what happened next.

The inquiry stated: "Almost everything else that happened between the time when Robert Hamill left St Patrick's Hall and the time he was put into the ambulance is a matter of dispute."

However, the inquiry was in no doubt he was murdered.

The report stated: "Those who assaulted him must have at least intended to cause him serious injury."

It added: "Robert Hamill suffered head trauma either shortly after that violence broke out or a little later when…Protestant youths kicked him while he was on the ground."