A powerful independent body has called for police to be advised on how to deal with murders linked to on-the-run paramilitaries, as part of a major probe into unsolved killings.
The Irish News understands that the controversial issue was raised in a report into police handling of murder investigations, which was ordered by the PSNI after serious flaws were uncovered in the Omagh bomb probe.
Police have published the 10 recommendations detailed in the review carried out by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary David Blakey, which gives a snapshot of failures – although the substance of the highly-critical report remains under wraps.
Chief Constable Hugh Orde is also in the process of establishing a major crime review team – a key recommendation in the Blakey report – to re-examine hundreds of unsolved murders spanning more than three decades.
More than 1,800 paramilitary killings, two out of every three of those committed since the start of the Troubles, remain unsolved.
In relation to the issue of paramilitary fugitives, Mr Blakey issues a clear message which not only has huge political ramifications, but has a practical impact on the police's review of historic cases.
The Irish News understands that he said the PSNI should investigate, but stressed the situation "requires clear guidance from higher levels".
In an annex to the British and Irish government's Joint Declaration, proposals in relation to on-the-runs within the "context of acts of completion" would provide an amnesty for exiles responsible for such crimes.
To many observers, the complex process of reviewing the bulging file of unsolved cases – including the relatively recent murders of Catholics Ciaran Cummings, Daniel McColgan, Gerard Lawlor, Protestant teenager Gavin Brett and journalist Martin O'Hagan – with a view to prosecution appears an impossible task without forensic evidence, witnesses or confessions.
It is understood that the Blakey report details progress in the establishment of an 'Archive Murder Project' and says officers are still gathering documentation in respect of several hundred unsolved cases.
Today (Tuesday) an SDLP delegation together with the mother of Catholic murder victim Ciaran Cummings, who was gunned down by members of the UVF near his Antrim home in 2001, will meet the head of the murder probe.
Nationalist politicians raised concerns over the Cummings muder case with the Chief Constable after the Irish News revealed that a loyalist gang attacked the family home.
Last night Mr Cummings' mother Kathleen said: "We feel completely in the dark. I just want Ciaran's killers brought to justice."
