Former RUC chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan was unaware that Special Branch officers kept files on solicitor Rosemary Nelson, the public inquiry into her murder heard today.
The former Northern Ireland police chief was giving evidence to the inquiry into the murder of the 40-year-old, who was murdered in a loyalist bomb attack in 1999 amid allegations of security force collusion.
Sir Ronnie gave a statement to the inquiry noting that he did not believe files were kept on the solicitor, but today he said he was surprised to hear their existence had been detected by the inquiry.
“I am not aware of any files, paper or otherwise, that have been kept on Mrs Nelson,” Sir Ronnie said in his statement to the inquiry, read out during today’s hearing.
“My impression at the time was that Rosemary Nelson was a lawyer who was doing her job.”
But today lead counsel to the inquiry Rory Phillips QC told Sir Ronnie that evidence gathered by the inquiry had shown that Mrs Nelson had a Special Branch number, signifying the existence of files on her.
On the issue of files being kept on Mrs Nelson, Sir Ronnie replied: “I would have been surprised that there would.”
“I had no personal reason to understand... that there would be any material that would make appropriate the creation of such a file.”
Sir Ronnie said he had become aware of the existence of such files only after recently reviewing evidence already given to the inquiry.
The former police chief began three days of evidence at the inquiry today.
The early proceedings of today’s hearing dealt with Sir Ronnie’s rise through the ranks of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
It heard he joined the force in May 1970, holding a series of senior positions, including head of Special Branch, before taking over leadership of the RUC in 1996.
The inquiry heard he conducted a major review of policing which fed into the Patten reforms that overhauled the RUC and created the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
In 2002 Sir Ronnie retired from the PSNI and later that year was appointed Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, but he has since become a security consultant.
Ms Nelson, a mother of three, had driven only yards from her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh, when the device beneath her car exploded on March 15th 1999.
The attack was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, but this was seen as a cover name for larger loyalist paramilitary groups.
Mrs Nelson ran her own legal practice in Lurgan and was largely unknown outside the area until the mid-1990s when she took on a series of cases that were to attract wide attention.
Lurgan republican Colin Duffy was twice cleared of murder charges under her representation, while Mrs Nelson also represented the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition in the bitter Drumcree marching dispute.
She also represented the family of Catholic man Robert Hamill, killed in a sectarian attack in Portadown while police were parked nearby.
Mss Nelson began to receive threats from loyalists as her profile grew, but she also claimed that police officers interviewing clients accused of republican activities had issued threats against her.
Concerns for her safety were also raised by United Nations (UN) official Param Cumaraswamy, who monitored the treatment of lawyers and compiled reports into allegations of security force intimidation of defence lawyers in Northern Ireland.
No one has been convicted for Mrs Nelson’s murder.
PA
