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Press Notice 24

PPS decision
21st December 2010

The Robert Hamill Inquiry has been notified by the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPS) today, Tues 21^st December, that the PPS has reviewed a decision to discontinue proceedings against certain persons arising from the circumstances of the death of Robert Hamill.

The review was carried out as a result of the Inquiry Panel's interim report which was published on 12 March 2010.

Having completed this review, the PPS has concluded that the Test for Prosecution is met in respect of two persons for an offence of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice and one person for doing an act with intent to pervert the course of public justice.

 

Editors’ notes:

1. The Inquiry Panel now proposes to finalise its report and deliver it to the Secretary of State in February 2011.
2. The Inquiry’s terms of reference are:
   To inquire into the death of Robert Hamill with a view to determining whether any wrongful act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary facilitated his death or obstructed the investigation of it, or whether attempts were made to do so; whether any such act or omission was intentional or negligent; whether the investigation of his death was carried out with due diligence; and to make recommendations.
3. The Chairman of the Inquiry is Sir Edwin Jowitt, a retired Justice for the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division. The other members of the Inquiry Panel are Sir John Evans (former President of the Association of Chief Police Officers and retired Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary) and Reverend Baroness Richardson of Calow (Moderator of the Churches’ Commission for Inter Faith Relations).
4. The Inquiry was established on 16 November 2004 when the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Paul Murphy, announced the terms of reference for the inquiry into the death of Robert Hamill following an incident in Portadown, County Armagh on 27 April 1997.
5. Further information regarding the Inquiry can be obtained from the Inquiry’s website: www.roberthamillinquiry.org or from the Press Officer to the Inquiry, Liz Fawcett, who can be contacted on the following numbers: +44 (0) 028 9020 0811 or +44 (0) 771 943 5662. Liz can also be contacted by E-mail on [email protected]