Attack witness at Hamill inquiry

Robert Hamill died after being attacked in Portadown in 1997

A woman who was with Robert Hamill on the night he was attacked, has been giving evidence to the inquiry into his killing.

Mr Hamill's family has claimed that police officers stood by while he was beaten and kicked by loyalists.

On Thursday, the woman, known as Witness E said she only recalled seeing one policeman at the scene.

Mr Hamill died 11 days after being attacked by a loyalist mob in Portadown in April 1997.

Witness E told the inquiry she had been on a night out with her husband, sister and Mr Hamill.

She said the group were walking home towards a nationalist area of Portadown and the next thing she knew Mr Hamill and her husband had been attacked and were lying on the ground.

The witness said one police officer approached her and told her to put her husband into the recovery position.

She told the inquiry he was the only police officer she saw at the scene.

But when asked to comment on contradictory statements from other witnesses, which claim a group of four or five people had been shouting republican slogans and had provoked an attack, Witness E said no-one in her group had started a fight.

She added that she was not covering anything up to protect Mr Hamill's memory.