Responding to comments made by the Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers’ Association, Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International UK, said:

“The families of the Loughinisland victims have yet to see the killers of their loved ones held to account. Amnesty International UK will continue to support them and other families' campaigns for truth and justice. The trauma and the pain they have suffered is unacceptable, and nothing should be allowed to distract from that.

“Amnesty International UK fully supports the remarks made by Patrick Corrigan, our Northern Ireland Programme Director, in relation to the police investigation into journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey.

“The report by the Police Ombudsman into the Loughinisland massacre noted that there was, undeniably, significant wrongdoing by the RUC following the murder of six innocent men by the UVF in 1994.

“The report states: “the protection of informants through both wilful acts and the passive ‘turning a blind eye’; catastrophic failures in the police investigation; and destruction of exhibits and documents”, all of which helped the killers to evade justice.

“We only received the letter this morning, and are concerned that the NIRPOA appear to have prioritised giving it to local media.”