Question
Questions below relate to the Public Prosecution Service’s letter to the Chief Constable, dated 2 April 2021, entitled "PPS decisions on Prosecution re: Bobby Storey Funeral".
1. In the paragraph headlined "Communications", the PPS claim they shared their draft press release on Friday 26 March 2021, ahead of release to the media on Tuesday 30 March. Is this the case?
2. In the same paragraph, the PPS claim the PSNI did not fulfil a promise to share their draft press statement with the PPS one or two days before release to the media. Is it correct that (i) such a promise was made and (ii) the draft release was not shared until Tuesday 30 March, some 15 minutes prior to release to the media?
3. In the para headlined "Prosecution recommendations" the PPS suggest the PSNI should not have made public their recommendation seeking prosecutions, as, according to the PPS, there is a “well-recognised approach, both in this jurisdiction and in England and Wales ......that such communications are confidential and should not be made public". Do the PSNI agree that this is indeed standard practice?
4. In the same section, the PPS state that at no time did PSNI officers, either verbally or in writing, inform PPS prosecutors that the PSNI were recommending prosecutions. Is this the case?
5. In the same section, the PPS claim they became aware of the PSNI recommendation for prosecutions only on receipt of the PSNI press statement, at which point a PPS enquiry brought confirmation the PSNI had recorded their recommendation for prosecutions on their Niche system. Is this true? If so, when was Niche updated with that specific recommendation?
6. Pursuant with Question 5 above, would the PPS have had access to the recommendation for prosecution, either (i) via the PSNI Niche system, or (ii) through their own Causeway system? If so, can the PSNI confirm when the PPS would have first opened that part of the system containing the recommendation?
Answer
- That is correct. However, it was provisional and the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) had advised us that a prosecutorial decision in relation to one individual was still being reviewed.
- The Police Service of Northern Ireland could not finalise its press statement until we were aware of the decisions in relation to all persons of interest under consideration by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) for fear of undermining or prejudicing any prosecution process that may arise. We only became aware of the final prosecutorial decision in relation to one individual approximately an hour before publication. It is in that context that our final press statement was shared close to the time of release to the media.
- Whilst it is unusual for the Police Service or Northern Ireland to publically comment upon our recommendations to the PPS we are not aware of any formal convention or policy that forbids such an action. This matter was of such a high degree of public and political commentary that it presented and continues to present a significant risk to community confidence in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Therefore, I am satisfied it was necessary to outline the recommendation made by the investigating officer to provide vital context.
4, 5 & 6. A paper file was submitted by hand to the PPS during the morning of 18th December 2020. The Niche file containing recommendations for each suspect was submitted to Causeway on 18th December 2020 at 1739hrs to enable sharing with PPS. This information was accessible by the PPS from that point on, over three months prior to their prosecutorial decision.
N.B. Causeway is the digital information sharing system for the criminal justice sector.
Mike Nesbitt - UUP