The Five Demands

Police boss regret over bomb stance (Belfast Telegraph)
Northern Ireland’s chief constable has spoken of his regret and sadness that his stance on the McGurk’s Bar bombing hurt families of the bereaved.
But Matt Baggott said he stood by his decision not to accept certain criticisms of the detectives who investigated the 1971 atrocity in Belfast which were outlined in a report by the Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson.
Mr Baggott has also given his reaction to the wider problems that have beset the ombudsman’s office, prompting Mr Hutchinson to tender his resignation early. The chief acknowledged confidence in the police watchdog body had been hit, but insisted it could be restored.
A probe by Mr Hutchinson on the McGurk’s bombing found detectives adopted an “investigative bias” by claiming the attack was committed by republicans when in fact loyalists were to blame.
Relatives of the 15 dead reacted furiously when Mr Baggott refused to agree with that finding and have threatened to take legal action against him.
The chief constable, who has insisted there is not enough evidence to prove any bias existed, said the episode had saddened him. “Whatever I think about this is nothing to the hurt those folk have been through,” he said. “But I couldn’t agree. I can’t, with all integrity, agree to something when I can’t see how that judgment’s been made or when there’s conflicting evidence in there.”
Meanwhile last month, Mr Hutchinson offered to leave his post in January following damning reports into the work of his office. A hard-hitting review by the Criminal Justice Inspection group branded management of the office “dysfunctional”, uncovered a major split in its staff, and found Mr Hutchinson had lost the trust of senior colleagues.
It cited ombudsman reports where criticism of police conduct in some of the most controversial murder cases of the Troubles was removed without explanation. Mr Baggott said the office had to face great challenges in regard to resources and the difficult task of reviewing historic cases.
He said it should also be remembered that it was Mr Hutchinson who asked for a review of the office’s work. “If you have an organisation being subject to great criticism there is a danger confidence gets sapped,” he said. “A lot of this criticism was invited by Al himself – he invited people to look at his office and that takes enormous strength.
“So we have to be careful that when we invite challenge and criticism that somehow we ended up condemning rather than applauding the willingness to take a step back and review and move on.”

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• Baggot may face McGurk legal bid (bbc.co.uk)