Murder investigation 'seriously defective' says Ombudsman

John Devine was shot dead by loyalists at his home in 1989

The Police Ombudsman has concluded that a 1989 investigation into the sectarian murder of a Catholic man in west Belfast was "seriously defective".

Father-of-three John Devine, 37, was shot dead by loyalists at his home in Fallswater Street.

The ombudsman said a man prosecuted for the murder 30 years later should have been arrested and interviewed as a suspect at the time.

Winston Rea died in 2023 while standing trial.

His prosecution arose after he gave interviews to an oral history project at Boston College.

The original Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) investigation was reviewed by the ombudsman, Marie Anderson, and the findings published on Thursday.

Mrs Anderson is critical of the RUC arrest strategy – it only took action against two people on a list of 36 persons of interest.

She also found no evidence it warned him his name and date of birth were on a document found in "two separate loyalist paramilitary intelligence caches" recovered by police in 1987 and 1988.

'Failed by police'

Although the document had a different address and photo, the police did not consider the potential risk to Mr Devine, including whether a 'threat to life' warning was appropriate.

"Given the available evidence and other information gathered during my investigation, I consider the original RUC investigation to be seriously defective, and not capable of leading to the identification of those responsible," said Mrs Anderson.

Her report identifies that house-to-house and witness enquiries were not adequately pursued, leading to missed opportunities to gather evidence, and that all available forensic opportunities were not fully exploited.

Mrs Anderson added: "I believe that John Devine was the victim of a campaign of sectarian violence mounted against the nationalist community.

"Loyalist paramilitaries alone were responsible for his murder.

"Given the significant failings in the RUC investigation, I believe that Mr Devine's family were failed by police in their search for the truth regarding the perpetration of his murder."

'A damning indictment'

In a statement, the Devine family solicitor, Pádraig Ó Muirigh said: "These findings are a damning indictment of the RUC investigation into John Devine's murder.

"The breadth and nature of these failings cannot be explained by mere incompetence.

"The Devine family have a long-held view that those involved in the murder were protected from prosecution by the RUC and that the security forces colluded with loyalist paramilitaries," he added.

"That view has been reinforced by these findings."