Three face charges for Catholic murder

Three people are to be charged in connection with the sectarian murder of Robert Hamill, a Catholic who was beaten to death by a Loyalist mob in 1997.

The announcement, by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service, was made after the ongoing public inquiry into the death asked prosecutors to reconsider an earlier decision to discontinue proceedings. Prosecutors have now decided there is adequate evidence to charge two people with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and one person with doing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Hamill was attacked in Portadown as he walked home from a night out with relatives. The presence of armed police in a Land Rover at the scene of the attack prompted claims that they failed to intervene. The police officers involved deny wrong-doing.