Nelson threats not investigated

Rosemary Nelson died in a car bomb in March 1999

Threats against a Lurgan lawyer made months before she was murdered were not properly investigated by the RUC, the Police Ombudsman has said.

Rosemary Nelson died after a booby-trap bomb planted by loyalists, exploded under her car in March 1999.

Nuala O'Loan launched her investigation after a complaint from Belfast-based human rights group, the Committee on the Administration of Justice.

She said police should have made more strenuous efforts about the threats.

The CAJ said it sent copies of two written threats against Mrs Nelson to the Northern Ireland Office and asked it to forward the documents to Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the RUC chief constable, seven months before the solicitor was killed.

Mrs Nelson's car was blown up yards from her home

The documents were an anonymous letter sent to Mrs Nelson, and a leaflet which was circulating in loyalist areas in Portadown during the summer of 1998.

The ombudsman's report said it found no evidence that the NIO had forwarded the documents to the chief constable's office, but instead faxed a general letter about the issues raised in the leaflet.

However, the ombudsman said the police were aware of the threats and did not deal with either the letter or the leaflet properly.

She said the RUC should have made more strenuous efforts to establish a clearer picture of the level of risk and threat to the solicitor.

A public inquiry into the murder has been postponed. It is one of four into claims of security force collusion.

The 40-year-old mother of three was murdered by the loyalist splinter group, the Red Hand Defenders.

The collusion allegations arose because of Mrs Nelson's role as the legal representative in a number of high profile cases, including the nationalist Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition.

Alban Maginness of the SDLP said he welcomed Mrs O'Loan's findings.

"Her report is quite specific: the RUC did not properly investigate or even acknowledge the threats, including those allegedly made by its own officers," he said.

Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay said the report made it clear that the RUC "turned a blind eye to threats made by RUC personnel against Mrs Nelson".

"The Police Ombudsman's report clearly highlights why there should be a full independent inquiry into Rosemary Nelson's murder," he said.

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said investigations into the past were highly sensitive and those sensitivities "should be taken into consideration by the ombudsman".

"This murder was the work of paramilitaries and we must be careful not to offend the sterling work of the RUC in combating paramilitaries during the Troubles."