MÉTODO PARA OPTIMIZAR LA GEOMETRÍA DE LABOMBA

16.1 02.45 Sergeant P89 said the town centre was quiet. He travelled to Craigavon hospital to check on the injuries to Robert Hamill and D (724).

16.2 04.00 approx Insp Alan McCrum was advised that Robert Hamill’s injuries were life-threatening (10361).

16.3 04.20 Road sweeper diverted from the scene (8950) (NB This time is put at between 05.00 and 05.30 by the street cleaner (10291) and by Con David Orr)

16.4 05.00 DC Donald Keys returned to Portadown police station following a call from Insp Alan McCrum. He was briefed by Insp Alan McCrum and returned to the scene (11102).

16.5 05.30 DC Donald Keys directed Con David Orr to instruct the street cleaner to avoid the junction (714).

16.6 07.25 Con David Orr and Con A taped off the scene (714).

16.7 Con A said that at 07.27 she and Con David Orr taped off the area where two males had been lying before the ambulance arrived (9235).

16.8 08.00 DC Donald Keys directed the SOCO to lift items from the scene (9250).

16.9 09.00 DC Donald Keys and DC John McDowell arrived at the Police Station (4156).

16.10 09.55 Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO), Con Mark Ardis, arrived at the scene. He was requested at 08.00 (10993).

16.11 10.20 Photographs are taken of scene by xxxxxxxxx, RUC photographer (9246).

16.12 10.20 DC Donald Keys attended Craigavon Area hospital and directed that photographs be taken of D (11102).

16.13 Road sweepers are instructed to clean the area of the scene (17015). 16.14 DC John McDowell received clothing from D (6555).

16.15 Robert Hamill's clothing was handed to Hugo Marley solicitor’s office by Robert Hamill’s fiancée (9589).

16.16 18/1/2001 DCS Colville Stewart presented his findings to the Chief Constable. He has identified [amongst other matters] inadequate crime scene

preservation and little consideration of forensics. It was these areas of concern that Supt xxxxxxxxxxx of Complaints and Discipline was appointed to investigate, which was inherited by Supt Kennedy in April 2001 (26879). 16.17 29/1/01 Chris Mahaffey was appointed on behalf of PONI to supervise. It

was agreed that the investigation would focus on [amongst other topics: (a) Scene preservation d) Seizure of suspect’s clothing (e) Gathering debris (g) Loss of forensic and ID evidence. The standards to be applied to scene preservation and debriefing were outlined in police orders and manuals (10768).

16.18 2/2/01 PONI provideed terms of reference for the Complaints and Discipline investigation to look at the failure in scene preservation; arrest strategy; seizure of suspects clothing; evidence gathering at scene and debriefing of officers at scene (14670).

16.19 17/7/01 DC Donald Keys was interviewed by Supt Karen Kennedy. DC Donald Keys stated that when he arrived at the scene at about 05.45 on 27 April 2007, there were no tapes and he could not be satisfied that the scene was not contaminated. He told police not to let anyone through. There were two police there, although it was unclear at what stage they arrived and that he needed more information before securing the scene. He has definite recollection of telling DCI P39 that the scene was not secured and it was her responsibility. He called DC John McDowell and DCI P39 because he was faced with a difficult situation and wanted an SIO to take charge. The briefing given to the SOCO was a general one at the office, and a more specific one at the scene. He was told to lift all items at the scene (10175). 16.20 30/8/01 Insp Alan McCrum was interviewed by Supt Karen Kennedy. He

said on his arrival at the scene there were very limited police resources and he requested that an MSU be diverted because he was concerned that the police might be overrun. The ratio was about six civilians to one police officer. He stateed that there were no blood stains or anything to indicate a scene and there was nothing to indicate that this was any different from what had taken place on previous weekends. He told DC Donald Keys face to face to tape off, seal or preserve the scene, which was vital. It was inconceivable to secure every public order assault scene in Portadown on a Saturday night. (10361, 10376 and 10390).

16.21 20/9/01 Con David Orr was interviewed and he stated that he went with Con A to tape off the scene. He could not remember who told him to do it or if he was told to do it. To his knowledge there was no consultation at the time about taping off the scene once the crowd were under control. He could not say why no consideration was given to taping off the scene before 07.27 (10475).

16.22 20/9/01 Res Con Silcock was interviewed by Karen Kennedy and CI Desmond Jackson. He stated that the glass around Robert Hamill’s head appeared to be a broken bottle. He had never received any training on preservation of the scene, securing scenes or exhibiting evidence (10478).

16.23 24/9/01 Res Con James Murphy was interviewed by CI Desmond Jackson. He states that he remembered there being many small pieces of glass like a bottle had been broken (10488).

16.24 Con Alan Neill was interviewed by Supt Karen Kennedy. He did not preserve the glass that he moved from around Robert Hamill’s head because all they could do was preserve the life of the people there and look after themselves and it slipped his mind by the time he terminated duty. He did not know who told the hospital that Robert Hamill had been hit by a bottle. He described the behaviour of the persons in the town as affray. He said that he was not aware that the assault was life-threatening when he was stood down (10423).

16.25 20/11/01 Con A was interviewed by Supt Karen Kennedy. She said that the first time she was asked to seal the scene was just before 07.27 (10443). 16.26 3/1/02 Supt Kennedy issued her report. (10120). Her conclusions were: Area

A: Scene preservation. Guidelines for scene preservation were set out but there were no guidelines for a minor assault that may end up as a murder investigation (10146-50). Area D: No consideration was given as to the seizure of suspects’ clothing for the purpose of forensic examination. Without being able to establish decisions made which determined the course of the initial assault investigation this cannot be fully explored. One might conclude that if there was no arrest strategy – there was no strategy for obtaining forensic evidence (10153). Area E: No attempt was made to gather debris (broken bottles etc) at the scene. No attempt was made at the time and a possible criticism could be that had a complete debriefing taken place, the glass removed from around Mr Hamill’s head may have been recovered (10153). Area G: Valuable forensic and identification evidence was therefore lost. It is impossible to be precise in stating whether valuable forensic evidence was lost and it is impossible to state the position regarding the loss of valuable identification evidence (10156-64).

Submissions by John P Hagan Solicitors (Robert and Eleanor Atkinson) See the composite submission above

Submissions by the Police Service of Northern Ireland See section 18 below.

Submissions by Richard Monteith Solicitors (Civilian Witnesses)

It is submitted that one cannot assert definitively that forensic scientific or identification was in fact lost.

P89