The PSNI has defended its handling of the inquiry into the murder of journalist Martin O'Hagan after the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) complained it had lost faith in the ability of the police to properly investigate the case.
Today, on the fifth anniversary of the gunning down in Lurgan, Co Armagh of Mr O'Hagan, journalists are to hand over a letter to the PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde demanding to know why no one has been charged with the killing.
The 51-year-old Sunday World journalist and father of three daughters was shot as he was walking home from a night out in Lurgan with his wife Marie on September 28th, 2001 by a suspected LVF gang.
The NUJ Irish secretary Séamus Dooley has written a letter to Northern Secretary Peter Hain expressing "grave concern" at the lack of progress in the murder investigation and again asking that an outside police force be assigned to take over the case.
"It is obvious that the PSNI is not in a position to fully investigate this murder. The failure to apprehend those responsible and to secure convictions through the courts is deeply worrying and our members have lost confidence in the current investigation," said Mr Dooley.
"In the circumstances I am renewing our request that a police force from outside Northern Ireland be assigned to this investigation, which should be treated as a priority," he added in his letter to Mr Hain.
Mr Dooley also said that Mr Hain would be "familiar with the many allegations surrounding the murder".
Northern editor of the Sunday World Jim McDowell said two of the men who were in the car involved in the drive-by shooting of Mr O'Hagan were known to the newspaper.
In last Sunday's edition of the paper, he wrote: "There have been claims and suggestions that a cover-up has prevented Martin's killers being brought to book because that pair, and their LVF cohorts, may be police informers."
Mr McDowell said the Sunday World supported the PSNI but police must be pro-active in apprehending the killers.
The PSNI said it shared the frustration of Mr O'Hagan's family, colleagues and friends that no one has been made accountable for his murder. It said, however, that an extensive investigation was conducted. "Detectives have pursued more than 2,000 lines of inquiry, taken more than 400 statements and made eight arrests," police said in a statement.
"In due course, and in line with policy, the investigation will be reviewed and the outcome of that review will be discussed with the O'Hagan family," they added.
