Marie Anderson

In a report published yesterday, Marie Anderson said Mr Kelly’s family was “failed by police” as the result of a “wholly inadequate investigation”.

Mr Kelly was an independent nationalist councillor on Omagh District Council.

The 35-year-old married father-of-four was last seen leaving his place of work, the Corner Bar in Trillick, Co Tyrone, in the early hours of 24 July 1974. His body was recovered from Lough Eyes near Lisbellaw in County Fermanagh on 10 August 1974, having been shot six times.

To date, no one has been charged with, or prosecuted for, Mr Kelly’s murder.

Mrs Anderson found there was a series of investigative failings in the original RUC investigation, including that the senior investigating officer showed “latent” investigative bias.

She also concluded that the withholding of intelligence from the murder investigation team and the failure to act on intelligence about an active UVF unit in the Fermanagh area was indicative of “collusive behaviour” on the part of RUC Special Branch and the ‘L’ Division Commander who was responsible for oversight of the investigation.

As well as the original RUC investigation, a review of the case in 2001 led to a re-investigation by the PSNI which was conducted between 2003 and 2005. Although the reinvestigation resulted in a number of arrests, there were no convictions.

In 2002, Mr Kelly’s family made a complaint to the then Police Ombudsman regarding the circumstances of his murder and the original 1974 RUC investigation.

The complaint included an allegation that “police failed to investigate a number of individuals who were linked to Mr Kelly’s murder, because they were UDR members… If this was the case, then it would amount to collusion”.

The report identifies “significant” investigative failings, including a failure to adequately verify the alibis of UDR members and failure to record detailed witness statements; failure to link cases; forensic failings including failure to make enquiries about footwear marks, failure to recover the boat at Lough Eyes and no record of fingerprint enquiries; failure to make enquiries about an anonymous letter; and “latent” investigative bias on the part of the senior investigating officer.

Mrs Anderson said: “I am of the view that the deliberate withholding of intelligence and other information from the murder investigation team and the Divisional Commander was indicative of ‘collusive behaviour’. This removed the possibility of further lines of enquiry being developed and progressed, which may have led to the arrest and prosecution of offenders.

“The non-dissemination of intelligence and the RUC Special Branch restrictions placed on the sharing of intelligence with the 1974 RUC investigation team resulted in the senior investigating officer not being provided with relevant information. It is my view that this information could have changed the direction of the investigation and opened new lines of enquiry.”

She added: “My investigation has established a failure to address the implications of other intelligence linking RUC and UDR members to a UVF unit, based in County Fermanagh. I am of the view that this was indicative of deliberately ‘turning a blind eye’ which constituted ‘collusive behaviour’ on the part of RUC Special Branch and the ‘L’ Division Commander who were accountable for these decisions.”

In conclusion, Mrs Anderson said: “I am of the view that the family’s complaints about investigative failings are legitimate and justified in a number of respects.”