Coroner urges police chief to expedite file vetting in IRA man inquest case

A coroner has urged Northern Ireland’s chief constable to expedite the process of security vetting police files on the killing of a former IRA commander.

Jock Davison, 47, was shot in the Markets area of Belfast as he walked to work in May 2015.

He had been involved in a personal dispute with other republicans.

Three months after he was killed, former IRA man Kevin McGuigan was murdered in a shooting in nearby Short Strand.

An inquest into Mr Davison’s death has yet to take place, amid delays including over the preparation of police files for the hearings.

The PSNI is seeking to withhold certain sensitive files from the inquest on the grounds of public interest immunity (PII).

At a preliminary hearing on Friday, barrister for the PSNI John Rafferty told coroner Patrick McGurgan that Chief Constable Jon Boutcher was set to examine the material being proposed for redaction in January, but a date had yet to be confirmed.

The court was told that the PII application would also need to be passed to Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn for review before the coroner made an adjudication on whether to withhold the material from the inquest proceedings.

Barrister for the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) Joseph Aiken KC said the material should be provided to Mr Benn’s officials as soon as possible, rather than waiting for Mr Boutcher to conduct his own assessment.

“We don’t see why there needs to be a delay which is avoidable when this material could simply be provided now,” he said.

Mr Rafferty said the PSNI had not ruled out providing the material before Mr Boutcher’s assessment, but the barrister said he would need to seek further instructions from his client.

Mr McGurgan said one of his mantras would be “just get on with it”.

The coroner said it was “not acceptable” that a definitive date had not been confirmed for Mr Boutcher to review the files.

He told Mr Rafferty he would allow him until Monday to establish what the PSNI view was on sending the material to the NIO before the chief constable reviews it.

“I don’t expect anything other than a response that is positive,” said Mr McGurgan.

The next preliminary hearing was scheduled for February 19.