Team to probe collusion killings

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A special team has been set up to re-investigate murders the Police Ombudsman said were committed by UVF men who were also police informers.

Nuala O'Loan said there was collusion between officers and a north Belfast UVF gang which killed up to 16 people.

The Historical Enquiries Team, set up to investigate 3,000 Troubles deaths, has established a special team.

It will re-examine the deaths of 10 people named in the report and other complex cases.

The commander of the team, Dave Cox, said he hopes they will be able to convict the killers.

"We are reinvestigating the cases - the actual murder incidents," he said.

"Our aim is to try and uncover evidential opportunities to get those responsible for these murders before a court."

The team will also give the Ombudsman any evidence it uncovers of collusion involving members of the police.

CRIMES LINKED TO INFORMANTS The murders of 10 people10 attempted murders10 "punishment" shootings13 "punishment" attacksA bomb attack in Monaghan17 instances of drug dealingAdditional criminality, including criminal damage, extortion and intimidation

Her report said UVF members in north Belfast committed murders and other serious crimes while working as informers for Special Branch officers who gave the killers immunity.

The officers "created false notes" and blocked searches for UVF weapons.

They also paid almost £80,000 to leading loyalist Mark Haddock, jailed for 10 years last November for an attack on a nightclub doorman.

Responding to the report, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde offered an apology to the victims' families.

He said the report made "shocking, disturbing and uncomfortable reading".

The report, published on Monday, called for a number of murder investigations to be re-opened.

The ombudsman's investigation began more than three years ago when Belfast welder Raymond McCord claimed that his son, also called Raymond, had been killed by a police informer.

The former RAF man, 22, was a member of the UVF who had some involvement in drugs.

In 1997, he was beaten to death and his body dumped in a quarry.

Sharon McKenna was murdered in 1992

Mr McCord has said he wants those who murdered his son to be put in prison.

Among the investigations which could be re-opened are the murder in north Belfast in 1992 of 27-year-old taxi driver Sharon McKenna, who was shot at the home of an elderly friend.

The names of the police officers and the informers have not been made public.

However, it is known that the main informer at the centre of the investigation is Mark Haddock, who was named in the Irish parliament 15 months ago as a UVF killer.

Some of the Special Branch officers criticised in the report have rejected the ombudsman's allegations as "unfounded and incapable of substantiation".