Dedicated Officers, Regrettable Circumstances

The forces of conservatism have once again demonstrated the perils of basing terror trials on mere evidence. The trial of terror suspect Sean Hoey for the Omagh bombing of 1998 has resulted in acquittal of the terror suspect on all counts. If only it were permissible to intern people like him for six weeks without charge, of course, this sort of thing wouldn't happen. The judge noted several unfortunate incidents involving dedicated police officers faced with a difficult job. Evidence was "beefed up", lost, misfiled, stored in "thoroughly disorganised" fashion. DNA material was collected in so "thoughtless and slapdash" a manner as to be beneath consideration. Vehicles involved in the case, including the car which carried the bomb, were lost or allowed to rust. Two officers, including a detective chief inspector, failed to wear protective clothing when they collected evidence, and then did their best in court to protect the reputation of the force and the honour of dedicated officers faced with a difficult job. The judge referred to this as a "deliberate and calculated deception" and said that he had referred their evidence to the police ombudsman. There may also be an inquiry, just in case the whole fiasco turns out to have been nobody's fault once again.