Police 'missed opportunities' before Belfast murder

The police "missed opportunities" to identify the subject of a dissident republican threat six months before he was shot dead in west Belfast, a watchdog investigation has found.

Jim Donegan, 43, was murdered in 2018.

A Police Ombudsman investigation found a failure by police to link him to intelligence it received about a threat on an unnamed man.

His family believes had he been warned he would have taken preventative measures.

Mr Donegan was shot dead as he waited to pick up his 13-year-old son outside St Mary's Grammar School on the Glen Road in west Belfast in December 2018.

In June 2018, they received intelligence that dissidents were planning to shoot a man "they believed to be involved in the sale of illegal drugs".

The intelligence identified the type of car he drove and stated he regularly picked his son up from a school on Glen Road.

But the information did not identify Mr Donegan, or provide a date for the anticipated attack.

Mr Donegan's relatives told the ombudsman, Marie Anderson, that had he been made aware of the threat, he would have changed his routine.

Mrs Anderson said the police faced challenges in identifying Mr Donegan.

However, she stated that additional research of the police computer system at an early stage would have "likely" enabled a link.

"As that did not happen, no threat management process was put in place," said Mrs Anderson.

"This meant that police failed to effectively fulfil their obligation to take preventative measures to protect someone whose life was at risk."

She found that police did make a series of enquiries in a bid to identify the car and the unnamed person referred to in the threat.

A number of people were identified as potential targets, but Mr Donegan was not one of them.

Within a month of receiving the threat, the investigation into it "had drawn largely to a halt".

Mrs Anderson said one of the reasons why police were unable to link Mr Donegan to the threat involved the car.

Although Mr Donegan did own the make of car referred to in the intelligence, it was registered in his wife's name at the time.

"Some additional enquiries at that early stage, in particular checking Mr Donegan's profile, would have revealed that he had previously been the subject of a number of threats from dissident republicans and was likely to be the unnamed person referred to in the threat message," Mrs Anderson concluded.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said on Thursday it acknowledged the Police Ombudsman investigation, and "will now take time to meticulously review those findings highlighted".

"As with any unsolved murder, this case remains open and I'm taking this opportunity to reiterate our appeal to anyone with information to come forward," he said.

"This was a cold-blooded execution, which has left a loving family bereft.

"I understand that people may be afraid to speak up, but please be assured that information can be passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers, with 100% anonymity."