Statutory Report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On 18 June 1994, six people were brutally murdered and five people were injured by the
UVF in the Heights Bar, Loughinisland. They were watching a World Cup football match
when gunmen entered the small bar and indiscriminately opened fire with a VZ58
automatic rifle. The killings received widespread condemnation in Northern Ireland,
nationally and internationally.
Within a relatively short period of time the police had reliable intelligence on who
committed the murders. They recovered the getaway car, the murder weapons and the
clothing believed to have been used by the killers. Despite the high profile nature of the
killings, the continued demands by families of the deceased for justice, and the many
thousands of hours of investigative action by the police not one person has been
prosecuted for the killings.
The families of the deceased and injured came to the Office of the Police Ombudsman
with significant concerns. In summary these were:-
that the police failed to conduct an effective investigation of the murders, including
failing to keep bereaved families updated as to the progress of the inquiry;
that the police failed to discharge the State’s duties as required by Article 2 of the
European Convention of Human Rights
that there was collusion between the RUC and those responsible for the murders
Central to their complaints was a fundamental question – why has no one been held
accountable for the murder of their loved ones? The investigation by my Office has sought
to answer this and other important questions raised by the families of those who were
killed and injured.
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