No change of Hamill inquiry terms

Robert Hamill was beaten to death in Portadown, County Armagh

The terms of an inquiry into the murder of a Portadown man 11 years ago will not be extended, Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward has decided.

Robert Hamill, 25, was beaten to death by a loyalist mob in the town in 1997. No-one was convicted of the killing.

His family wanted the DPP to answer questions on the police investigation.

A High Court judge had told Mr Woodward in July to reconsider, but he said on Wednesday that widening the inquiry's terms was not in the public interest.

It was claimed that armed RUC officers in a Land Rover near the scene failed to intervene.

The inquiry will consider whether or not the RUC "could or should have done more" to avert Mr Hamill's death.

It will also examine whether RUC officers at the scene could have done more to identify, or facilitate the prosecution of those who carried out the attack.

Oral hearings at the inquiry will begin in January, almost four years after it opened.

Sinn Féin assembly member John O'Dowd criticised Mr Woodward's decision.

"How can Shaun Woodward state that the extension of the remit of the inquiry to allow evidence to be heard from the DPP on the killing of Robert Hamill is not in the public interest? It beggars belief," he said.