Police Federation to challenge decision to suspend Ormeau Road incident officer

By Rebecca Black, PA

The Police Federation has indicated it plans to start legal action over the suspension of an officer following a controversial incident when a Troubles survivor was arrested after an atrocity commemoration.

One officer has been suspended from duty and another repositioned after angry scenes unfolded when they approached some of the attendees at an event on the Ormeau Road in Belfast last month.

The officers had attended to highlight potential coronavirus breaches in relation to the size of the gathering.

In a statement, federation chairman Mark Lindsay said it will seek to judicially review the PSNI decision not to lift the suspension of the officer.

“Following due process, the PSNI reviewed what happened and the decision was made not to remove the suspension or the repositioning of a second officer,” he said.

“We are now left with no option but to submit Judicial Review pre-action protocol letters to the Chief Constable this week.

“We contend it does not follow established process and we feel we have no alternative but to launch Judicial Review proceedings.

“Suspension and repositioning decisions have implications on their careers. Both officers are probationers and their probation could be extended because of this decision.

“It is our view that they are being unfairly treated we will exhaust our legal options in their defence.”

The Ombudsman’s probe into the police handling of the event is ongoing.

It was to commemorate the 1992 loyalist murder of five people at the Sean Graham bookmakers shop.

Mark Sykes, who was shot multiple times in that attack, was arrested during the commemoration.

Mr Sykes, who was detained on suspicion of disorderly behaviour and later released, has admitted swearing at an officer.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne apologised for how police handled the incident.