What Possible Reason Could There Be For Withholding Documents From This Young Girls Inquest?

[sandyRoe]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-35564196

[agchristie]

Who knows? A most unusual case.

[EDDIE51]

The answer is in the link
''These powers have been used many times during the 'troubles' '' Often to protect police informers.

[agchristie]

I saw that Eddie but had doubts after I read the Analysis. Seems unprecedented in these circs...

[Canary42]

To quote from the link, because they "....... related only to material the police judged would compromise their ability to bring murderers, rapists and other serious criminals to justice in future."

[hc4361]

It is usual for the police informer to be referred to anonymously in such documents. Those that need to know know the identity but it means the information provided is available to inquests and such like.

My vague guess is that a deal was done with the suspect - a man who was going to die in prison already

[ToraToraTora]

as Sir Humphrey once said the official Secrets act is not to protect secrets it's to protect officials. No doubt it's the same here.

[Gromit]

It would appear he was a police informer, and the PSNI protected him.

He went on to kill again in England, so the disclosure that they kept him out of jail would be deeply damaging to public confidence in the Northern Ireland Police Service.

[sandyRoe]

I'd not have thought of him as an informer. Because as an Englishman he'd have been treated with suspicion and at best he could only have picked up very low-grade intelligence.
The police let informers providing valuable information get away with murder. Brian Nelson, Mark Haddock, and Steak knife, are three of the most notorious.
In hiding documents they seem to be protecting themselves.

[sandyRoe]

^^^ I'd not have thought of him as an informer, but it looks as though he was.