A police officer did not act with “sensitivity” when he intervened at a Troubles memorial event during Covid restrictions, Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson has said.
However, Mrs Anderson added that she believed there had been “reasonable justification” for police to have attended the scene outside Sean Graham’s bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in Belfast in February 2021.
A number of people had gathered to mark the 29th anniversary of the murders of five people in a loyalist gun attack.
The ombudsman investigated a complaint from Mark Sykes, a survivor of the attack, who was arrested and put into handcuffs before being released after almost 90 minutes.
The investigation centred on allegations concerning the insensitivity of police attending the area during the commemoration, Mr Sykes’ alleged wrongful arrest and the prolonged use of handcuffs.
The ombudsman said: “Given the restrictions on gatherings which were in place under the Covid regulations at the time, I am satisfied that there was reasonable justification for PSNI to have attended the scene.
“However, after examination of all relevant evidence, including radio transmissions, body worn video and other video footage of the incident, I was of the view that the arresting police officer had not responded to the unfolding events in line with an order to treat the gathering with sensitivity.”
Mrs Anderson said she had submitted a file to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) for a decision on whether two officers who attended the scene should be prosecuted for assault.
The PPS directed no prosecution.
The ombudsman also assessed the conduct of seven police officers, including those who were at the scene, in the control room and the senior officers involved in the decision making.
Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Marie Anderson (Liam McBurney/PA)
Mrs Anderson said the evidence had been sufficient to support her recommendations to the PSNI’s Professional Standards Department (PSD) for disciplinary proceedings regarding one officer’s conduct in relation to the man’s arrest and handcuffing.
The recommendations were accepted by the PSD and disciplinary proceedings were held.
However, the officer subsequently appealed against the decision of the disciplinary panel, and the appeal was upheld.
Mrs Anderson said radio transmissions showed that when police officers first encountered the commemoration they thought it was a “pop-up protest” and were not aware of the significance of the gathering.
The officers, who were both probationary officers with less than 12 months’ service, were given orders to establish what was happening and were instructed by their supervising sergeant to put their body worn video on and to “back off” if they met resistance.
Twelve minutes later the attending officers were advised that the gathering was to commemorate the anniversary of the Sean Graham bookmakers shootings.
They were told to “still get footage, but treat with sensitivity”.
Following a verbal altercation, Mr Sykes was arrested for disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the force accepted the recommendations from the ombudsman (Jonathan McCambridge/PA)
He was placed in a police car where he remained with his hands cuffed behind him for almost 90 minutes.
The ombudsman said: “The evidence demonstrated that the attending police officers had no advance knowledge of the event or an in-depth understanding of the atrocity which was being commemorated.”
Mrs Anderson said she had identified no evidence of a breach of the PSNI code of ethics by senior police officers.
She has made three recommendations to the PSNI to improve aspects of operational policing.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the force accepted the recommendations.
He said: “We have already commenced updating our training, policy and procedures to ensure that incidents of a similar nature do not occur again.”
The ombudsman pointed out that her investigation was distinct from a decision by the PSNI to suspend one police officer and re-position another.
These decisions were subsequently judged to have been unlawful following a judicial review and sparked a crisis within the police force which led to the resignation of former chief constable Simon Byrne.