Doug Beattie MC MLA, the Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice spokesperson, has expressed his concern at the direction Legacy Investigations are taking.

Doug Beattie MC said:

“Recent public comments with regard to the role played by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in directing the PSNI as to what cases the Legacy Investigations Branch (LIB) should be looking at, have caused a great deal of concern, both in Northern Ireland and in Great Britain.

“On the PSNI website it states“All Troubles related deaths will be reviewed by LIB using the Case Sequencing Model which does not prioritise military cases.”

“Yet last week the Chief Constable told victims of the Troubles “there are some circumstances where the director of public prosecutions can direct me to effectively conduct an investigation and it is in those cases that the majority of my LIB are occupied at the moment”

“Last week I asked for a meeting with the Chief Constable to discuss paramilitary activity and I have subsequently asked to expand this meeting to cover legacy investigations. I have also asked repeatedly what action the PSNI intends to take in the case of Kieran Conway, who confessed on television to either the murder, assisting the murder, or attempted murder, of British soldiers when he was in the IRA.

“As my Party colleague Danny Kinahan MP said on Friday, there has been a totally disproportionate focus on the actions of State forces when compared to the actions of terrorist groups and I genuinely fear this is bringing the entire judicial process into disrepute in the eyes of the public and affecting their confidence in the system itself.

“I believe that it would help to reduce public disquiet if the Chief Constable were to release the details of the cases the DPP has directed his LIB to investigate. If those cases are centered purely around State actions, then there are very serious questions to be answered.”