Unlawfully suspended PSNI officer launches fresh legal action

Simon Byrne resigned as PSNI chief constable last month

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is facing fresh legal action over the incident which led to Simon Byrne resigning as chief constable.

BBC Spotlight has obtained papers filed at Belfast High Court.

The case is being taken by an officer who was suspended after an arrest at a vigil to remember the victims of the Sean Graham bookmakers' attack.

Five people were murdered when loyalist gunmen opened fire in the Ormeau Road shop in February 1992.

Mr Byrne quit his post last month after a judge found the PSNI had acted unlawfully in taking action against two officers, following the incident in 2021.

The decision was found to have been influenced by a belief Sinn Féin would withdraw its support for policing.

The PSNI said it would not be appropriate to comment on the new case due to ongoing legal proceedings.

BBC Spotlight attempted to contact Mr Byrne for comment, but he did not respond.

• Spotlight: Inside the Policing Crisis

The officer taking the legal action, who has been granted anonymity by the court, was suspended the day after the incident on the Ormeau Road.

Another officer was placed on restricted duties.

The fresh court case relates to decisions taken after the officer's suspension in February 2021.

The Police Ombudsman investigated the Ormeau Road incident and referred the constable for internal disciplinary proceedings.

Officers attended the memorial on Belfast's Ormeau Road in February 2021

But, when a senior PSNI officer reviewed the ombudsman's file, a decision was taken to take no further action.

It is alleged in the court documents that Mr Byrne took the "rare step" as a chief constable of personally intervening earlier this year.

He ordered the probationary officer to attend a misconduct meeting in July 2023.

That was put on hold by a separate judicial review case, which considered the initial suspension.

A legal argument will allege Mr Byrne's intervention was biased, based on his role in previously suspending the officer.

It is also claimed in the court documents that Mr Byrne had previously indicated he would not involve himself any further in the case, following the suspension decision.

As Mr Byrne is no longer in post, it's understood the PSNI will respond to the case corporately.

The former chief constable will be notified of the case as an interested party.

What happened at the Ormeau Road event?

A memorial to the five victims of the attack was put up outside the Belfast betting shop

People had gathered on the Ormeau Road on 5 February 2021 to mark the 29th anniversary of a gun attack, in which five people were murdered by loyalist gunmen.

Several others were injured.

Police attended the commemoration to investigate a suspected breach of Covid regulations.

Mark Sykes, who was shot and injured in the 1992 attack, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour.

Nationalist politicians claimed the event was treated differently to a gathering three days earlier at Pitt Park in east Belfast.

It was described as a UVF "show of strength", but police took an operational decision to gather evidence and not to intervene.

Claims of political policing

Following the arrest of Mr Sykes, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton received a phone call from Sinn Féin's police spokesperson, Gerry Kelly.

Mr Sykes was released without charge a short time later, less than two hours after his initial arrest.

The following day, 6 February, a decision was taken to suspend the arresting officer and restrict the duties of his colleague.

The court ruling in August found the two officers were disciplined to allay any threat of Sinn Féin abandoning its support for policing in Northern Ireland.

When asked if any such threat was made, Mr Kelly told Spotlight "absolutely not".

"There has been a whole flurry, especially politically and in the media about Sinn Féin's influence, you know. It's a load of nonsense", he said.

Sinn Féin's policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly denied there was any threat to withdraw support for the PSNI

Mr Kelly said he phoned DCC Hamilton as a public representative to give his opinion on the arrests.

"We are there to represent the community, we are not police," he said.

"They do the operational decision making, but we can have an opinion."

Unionist politicians claimed the events proved a standard of two-tier policing.

Democratic Unionist Party MLA Trevor Clarke, who also sits on the Policing Board, claimed "the two officers were clearly working under instruction from senior officers and they carried out their role".

"We were disappointed at the time, and we were vindicated on our position whenever the judgment [was reached] that those two officers were used as scapegoats for political expediency for Sinn Féin."

DUP MLA Trevor Clarke sits on the policing board

Simon Byrne announced his resignation as chief constable "with immediate effect" on 4 September.

He had also been facing pressure following a number of data breaches.

In one incident, the names and details of almost 10,000 PSNI officers and civilian staff were published in error as part of a freedom of information request.

Spotlight has confirmed the initial request was made by a serving police officer who used a pseudonym.

The returning spreadsheet, which contained more information than he had asked for, remained online for more than two hours.

The PSNI later confirmed that sensitive information, including staff surnames and where they worked, was in the hands of dissident republicans.

An independent-led review is being carried out into the breaches.

Spotlight Inside the Policing Crisis is available to watch now on the BBC iPlayer, or on BBC One Northern Ireland Tuesday 10 October 22.40 BST.