RUC failed Willie Frazer's family over father's murder

The family of a County Armagh man who was murdered by the IRA in 1975 were "failed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) investigation into his death", a Police Ombudsman report has found.

Bertie Frazer, a part-time Ulster Defence Regiment soldier, was killed in an IRA gun attack in Ballymoyer in 1975.

His son, Willie Frazer, was a victims campaigner and founder of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (Fair), a group set up in 1998 to support victims of republican violence.

The Police Ombudsman investigation found the level of available archive material was "a stark example of limited police record management".

The conclusions, which the family of Bertie Frazer received on Thursday, were made by former police ombudsman Marie Anderson before her retirement on 21 December.

No one has ever been prosecuted for the murder of Bertie Frazer.

The report found that despite absences of "significant records" there was concern about aspects of the investigation "including the junior rank of the officer leading the murder investigation, witness and suspect strategies, the disposal of a murder weapon and the lack of engagement with the Frazer family".

Anderson said the initial police response to the murder was "prompt and reflected the standards of the day".

But the former police ombudsman said the relevant archived RUC material obtained during the investigation was "limited in scope and detail" and provided "only a partial account" of the circumstances surrounding the murder and the subsequent police investigation.

The report found that despite the "absence of documentation" into the extent of enquiries taken by police at the time it appears key lines of enquiry "were not pursued".

There was also criticism of a detective constable leading the murder investigation, which Anderson said should have been led by "a more senior and experienced police officer".

She said there was a "lack of engagement" by police with the Frazer family and disposal of a recovered weapon "ought not to have occurred".

The former police ombudsman stated that Frazer was a victim of sectarian violence, and the Provisional IRA alone was responsible for his murder.

Anderson concluded that, "from the failings identified (in the investigation) Mr Frazer's family were failed by the RUC investigation into his murder".

She also concluded that the actions related to a number of allegations made by the Frzer family were not completed before 30 April 2024, when the Police Ombudsman ceased to have power to investigate Troubles-related historical investigations.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it would "take time to study the findings of this report which highlights the investigative failures, poor record management and a lack of engagement with Mr Frazer's family by police".

The PSNI added that "Bertie Frazer was an innocent father of nine children murdered in a sickening, sectarian attack".

Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally said he met the Frazer family recently alongside the chief constable and that his thoughts were with them.

"The pain of such a devastating loss does not fade," he said.

Willie Frazer died in 2019 at the age of 58.