Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain last night said a prosecution would follow after a report uncovered widespread collusion of Special Branch officers with a loyalist paramilitary death squad responsible for up to 15 murders in the province.
Members of an Ulster Volunteer Force gang were protected for years, with their handlers destroying evidence and thwarting police investigations.
Mr Hain told Channel 4 news that "there would be at least one prosecution" in the wake of the devastating report by Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.
However, he rejected calls from the family of Raymond McCord Jnr - whose 1997 murder in Belfast sparked the ombudsman's investigation - for an independent judicial inquiry.
Mr Hain said: "There is nothing at all to suggest that such an inquiry will uncover any new or additional evidence that has not already been unearthed by the Police Ombudsman during the painstaking investigation."
Relatives of victims horrified by the scale of the cover-up and protection of terrorist killers are considering possible legal action against Sir Ronnie Flanagan, former RUC chief constable. Calls were made for his resignation as the head of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
In presenting her report, Ms O'Loan revealed the level of resistance her three-year £2m inquiry faced. Officers who were questioned were accused of providing evasive, contradictory, farcical and untrue answers and delaying requests for information for up to two and a half years.
Three retired assistant chief constables - two ranks below that of chief constable - seven detective chief superintendents and two detective superintendents were among 40 officers who refused to be interviewed. At least two of those implicated are still serving in the reformed Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Sir Hugh Orde, current chief constable, disclosed.
Ms O'Loan made clear the scale of the collusion meant it was not only junior officers who were involved.
While none of the paramilitaries or police officers were identified in her report, the prime agent, called Informant No 1, is known to be Mark Haddock.
The 37-year-old ex-terror chief was paid at least £80,000 by his Special Branch handlers between 1991-2003. Haddock is serving a 10-year jail term for a horrific attack on a bouncer.
A source close to the inquiry said: "If you've got intelligence an informant you are handling has murdered and you do nothing and it happens again and again and again, you've got a serial killer on your books who you are paying a salary, immunising and protecting from prosecution."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article