Car bomb contained shrapnel ‘and jars of flammable liquid’

CILLIAN SHERLOCK, Irish News, May 9th, 2026

A 47-YEAR-OLD man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder over an attempted car bomb attack on Lurgan PSNI station.

The New IRA claimed responsibility for the incident that saw a pizza delivery driver hijacked in Kilwilkie and forced to drive a pipe bomb to the station on the night of March 30.

The device did not explode but was deemed to be viable, before being made safe and being tested for forensics.

Barry Anthony Toman, with an address at Drumnamoe Avenue in Lurgan, appeared before the Craigavon Magistrates’ Court via videolink yesterday.

He was described as a “committed, violent terrorist” as the court was told his DNA could be found on five different parts of the bomb.

Toman was charged with attempted murder, an attempt to cause an explosion, and hijacking by compelling a person to drive a car carrying an improvised explosive device relating to the attack near Lurgan PSNI station.

He was also charged with possession of explosives with intent to endanger life on a date before March 31.

He was one of three people arrested on Wednesday by police investigating the incident.

In court yesterday, he spoke only to confirm he understood the charges against him.

A detective chief inspector (DCI) with the PSNI said he could connect the accused to the charges as he outlined DNA, CCTV, and phone evidence to the court.

The DCI explained that, on the night in question, a pizza delivery driver was responding to an order made over phone with the cost to be paid on delivery.

The address on the delivery was at the top end of an alleyway, with the occupants of the house later telling police they did not make the order.

The DCI said Toman’s home address was on the 200-metre long alleyway.

He said CCTV showed two people emerging before making demands and physically ushering the driver into the alleyway.

Police assert that one of the people, a male, primed the bomb and placed it into the boot of the driver’s car before a second male brings the delivery driver back to the car door and makes threatening motion.

The DCI said the driver drove the bomb to the front gate of Lurgan PSNI station under instruction, where he told the police about the bomb.

A ‘committed, violent terrorist’

Bomb accused a ‘committed, violent terrorist’, court is told

The hearing heard specifics on how the timing device was intended to detonate the bomb, which was described as a timed pipe bomb containing explosives and shrapnel surrounded by jars of flammable liquid to “create maximum fire damage”.

The area around the station was cordoned off and nearby premises were evacuated before army technical officers were called to the scene.

The DCI said DNA matching Toman was found on five locations on the device including the edge of a battery compartment, an AA battery that was found in the boot that was believed to have been in the bomb, a piece of tape holding wires, and on a screw.

The court heard that over the course of more than five hours across nine police interviews, Toman did not provide any comment to questions.

However, after being presented with the DNA evidence, he provided a prepared statement in which he explained he had worked on construction sites and public places where he had been in constant contact with screws, batteries and other tools.

The DCI said he did not answer further questions relating to this.

The PSNI representative said a phone present on Toman at the time of his arrest did not have any device commands recorded before April 5, which he said suggested a physical act to delete the information.

The DCI also said his home address, the area where the attack happened, and the area the pizza delivery order was made were all contained within the same phone cell area.

He said the phone used to make the order was a prepay no-details held phone.

Teenager paid for phone top-up with cash

The DCI said a 15-year-old had paid for a relevant top-up for that phone with a £20 note and a file had been prepared for the Public Prosecution Service.

The PSNI said there was a photo on Toman’s phone of a £20 note and a £10 note approximately two hours before that top up.

The DCI told the court it was the PSNI’s belief the accused was a “committed, violent terrorist”.

Under questioning from Toman’s solicitor Gavin Booth, the DCI said the CCTV was not good enough to make out who the men were and was not currently enough to identify the accused.

The DCI also accepted the cellsite analysis could not triangulate the calls to a single person or location.

He said there was “nothing at this stage” to link Toman to the phone used to contact the delivery order.

Under further questioning by Mr Booth, he said the “preliminary” DNA evidence was made up of one partial sample and a number of mixed samples.

He accepted that it could not be used to determine who was the last person to touch an object.

The DCI said in one of the mixed samples it meant he was one of two people to touch the object.

He added that in the partial sample, the likelihood of it being someone other than Toman was “a billion to one”.

The court also heard that DNA can be transferred from one location to another.

The magistrate said he was satisfied the PSNI had sufficient evidence to properly connect the accused to the offending

Remands   

There was no bail application at the hearing and legal aid was granted.

The matter will return before the courts on June 5.

Elsewhere, a 39-year-old woman has been charged with obstructing police in relation to the incident.

She has been released unconditionally in respect of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender.

She is expected to appear before Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on June 3.

Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy was released pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service.

Ex-election candidate is remanded over police station bomb

CHRISTOPHER WOODHOUSE, Belfast Telegraph, May 9th, 2026

ACCUSED ONCE STOOD FOR REPUBLICAN SINN FEIN

A former republican election candidate has been accused of attempting to bomb a Northern Ireland police station.

Barry Anthony Toman, who previously stood for Stormont, faces four charges over the incident in which a takeaway delivery driver was forced to transport an improvised explosive device to the gates of the facility in Lurgan.

The 47-year-old is charged with attempted murder and possession of an improvised explosive device with intent to endanger life.

Toman, of Drumnamoe Avenue in Lurgan, is further charged with attempting to cause an explosion with intent to endanger life and compelling a person to drive an improvised explosive device to the vicinity of Lurgan station.

In the 2007 Assembly election Toman stood for Republican Sinn Fein in the Upper Bann constituency, finishing third from the bottom with just 386 votes.

Only the Conservative candidate and another independent polled fewer votes.

According to election literature from Republican Sinn Fein at the time, Toman had previously served a six-year sentence in Maghaberry for possession of explosives with intent.

A campaign briefing paper profiled Toman and said: “A vote for Barry is a vote against Stormont and a vote against English rule in Ireland. He opposes the restyled RUC and — once elected — will not take his seat in Stormont.”

Yesterday Toman appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court via video-link from Musgrave police station in Belfast where the charges were put to him.

No application for bail was made but Toman's solicitor challenged the basis for connecting him to the charges.

A police officer told the court that at 10.45pm on March 30 a pizza delivery driver pulled up outside Lurgan police station and told security staff there was a bomb in his car.

The bomb failed to detonate and was found to be a timer activated pipe-shaped device with shrapnel and flammable liquid added to cause “maximum damage”.

The officer said the pizza was ordered via a mobile telephone call but the occupants of the address in the Kilwilkie estate to which it was called told police they didn't order it.

When the car pulled up it was approached by two men and the driver was taken into a nearby alleyway.

One man could be seen on CCTV doing something to the bomb which was then primed.

The device was then carried to the car and placed in the boot.

One of the men then brought the driver back to the vehicle and made what appeared to be a threatening motion.

The officer said a forensic examination of the bomb showed it was made up of a household clock with metal hands.

When the hands came to either the 12 or 6 position they would meet a metal contact which would have detonated the bomb via a lightbulb filament.

The officer said Toman's DNA was found at five separate locations on parts of the device.

DNA linked Toman to bomb

He added Toman's address was at the bottom of the alleyway into which the delivery driver was taken by the two men.

The mobile phone used to order the pizza was a pre-paid top-up device which had been topped up by a 15-year-old boy, explained the officer.

The officer said the payment was made in cash with a £20 note.

Toman was arrested and during interviews totalling more than five hours he provided only a “no comment” response.

In a pre-prepared statement given to police he said he worked on construction sites, has worked as a scaffolder for 20 years, and regularly came into contact with screws and other tools.

The officer said Toman failed to answer any questions about his statement.

When questioned by Toman's solicitor the officer agreed that Toman couldn't be identified as one of the two men encountered by the delivery driver.

The officer confirmed the only thing linking Toman to the device was his DNA found on parts of the bomb which contained partial and mixed samples but there was other circumstantial evidence against him.

The lawyer said given Toman's account as to how he may have come into contact with the items, it would be “dangerous” to connect him to the charges.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan said the test for connection was one of reasonable suspicion and he was satisfied the DNA was sufficient to connect Toman to the charges.

After being told no bail application was being sought he remanded Toman in custody and adjourned the case until June 5.

Police probe after English painted off bilingual sign

PAUL AINSWORTH, Irish News, May 9th, 2026

POLICE are investigating damage to a bilingual street sign in Belfast as a hate crime after the English name for the area was covered with spray paint.

The damaged sign in Moyard Park in the Springfield Road area of west Belfast has prompted a DUP MLA to question the police response, compared to incidents in which the Irish language on street signs is targeted.

The vandalism is due to be raised at an upcoming meeting of the Policing Board, although no report of damage to the sign was made by locals.

There has been a significant rise in bilingual street signs in Belfast and elsewhere being vandalised in recent years, with the Irish name for areas being painted over, scratched off, and in some cases physically cut out with power tools.

Last October, part of the Irish name for Shandon Park in east Belfast was removed with an angle grinder in what a local Sinn Féin councillor called a “disgraceful act of vandalism designed to stoke division and intolerance”.

Signs in the street have since had the Irish obscured with black paint and Union flag stickers in separate incidents.

Street sign damage being treated as ‘hate incident’.

In 2024, a bilingual sign in St Judes Square in south Belfast’s Ormeau area was cut in half with a power tool, while in nearby Haypark Parade, a bilingual sign was removed entirely – the third time in as many months the sign was targeted, having previously had the Irish lettering scratched off.

This week, the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, Causeway Coast and Glens councillor Russell Watton, said “the grinders are sitting waiting” for signage featuring Irish in his area, during a debate over changing the threshold for residents securing new bilingual signs.

Huge increase

In Belfast, a change to the council’s bilingual signs policy in 2022 has led to a huge increase in successful applications for signs, including Irish names.

The policy has been criticised by unionist representatives, however, as the new rules mean just one resident of a street or a councillor is required to trigger a consultation of all residents, and just 15% then need to agree to a new sign before it can be ratified.

Under the previous policy, a third of residents were required to trigger the consultation, and two-thirds needed to agree that the sign would be erected.

In a social media post highlighting the sign vandalism in Moyard Park, DUP MLA and Policing Board member Trevor Clarke questioned the response to the vandalism.

It has emerged that police initially received no report of the sign being damaged.

“Irish language sign vandalised in East Belfast = forensics, police responds as if it’s a murder scene, appeals to the public for information on hate-related incident,” Mr Clarke said, referring to the attack on the sign at Shandon Park.

“Stephen Nolan breaking the news that there was a manhunt on for a 40-year-old suspect.

“It was leading headlines, reported by BBC News, Belfast Live, Belfast Telegraph, RTE News, Belfast Newsletter, Irish News and so on.”

The South Antrim MLA continued: “English language sign vandalised in West Belfast = Nothing.

“Well if the media can’t paint Unionists as the bad guys and ‘oppressing the Irish language’ then best not to report on it.”

Mr Clarke added he “will be raising at the Policing Board why significant resources were used to investigate damage to a sign while this response has not been replicated across the country and would be most likely impossible to replicate”.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Officers from Woodbourne Local Policing Team attended Moyard Park and spoke to residents about damage to bilingual street signs.

“Residents advise that two signs have been damaged and they believe this damage has occurred within the last few weeks. Police are treating this as a hate incident and officers would appeal to anyone with any information to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 1274 of 07/05/26.”

Families of IRA men shot dead by soldiers reach settlements in claims for damages

ALAN ERWIN, Irish News, May 9th, 2026

THE families of two IRA men shot dead by British soldiers nearly 43 years ago have reached settlements in their claims for damages, the High Court heard yesterday.

Brian Campbell (19) and Colm McGirr (23) died after the SAS mounted an operation at the scene of an arms dump near Coalisland, Co Tyrone in December 1983.

Relatives of both men sued the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the PSNI, alleging a shoot-to-kill policy and lack of effective investigation.

In court yesterday it was announced that both actions have been settled on confidential terms.

The families are to make a donation to charity following the outcome.

Campbell and McGirr were shot dead after they attended the weapons cache in the Cloghog Road area along with another unidentified individual.

British troops who had been carrying out surveillance at the scene for three days then opened fire on them, according to the families’ lawyers.

One of the soldiers later told an inquest that the IRA men had taken possession of guns and were pointing them in the direction of the military unit.

Up to 79 bullet cartridges recovered from the scene were said to be traceable to the soldiers’ weapons.

The inquest, held in 1985, made no significant findings about the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

But an expert report commissioned as part of an Historical Enquiries Team probe in 2013 concluded that the positioning of McGirr’s body was consistent with him kneeling when shot, lawyers said.

A further finding was made that no shots had struck Campbell from the front.

Based on that report relatives of both men issued legal proceedings for damages against the MoD and PSNI in 2016.

Their barrister, Des Fahy KC, told the court that undisclosed settlements have now been reached in the claims.

Mr Justice Rooney responded: “It is good news to hear that two actions have been resolved after this length of time.”

Speaking outside court, the families’ solicitor, Padraig Ó Muirigh, indicated the confidential terms were agreed following weeks of negotiations.

“I can confirm that my clients are satisfied with the outcome of this litigation (and) will now be making a donation to charity,” he said.

Mr Ó Muirigh claimed the families had fought for more than 40 years to expose the circumstances surrounding the deaths of their loved ones.

“They have always maintained that the British Army operated a ‘shoot to kill’ policy during the conflict,” he added.

“The search of the arms dump appears to have been intelligence-led and the families have always questioned why the deceased were not apprehended at the scene.”

DUP MLA wants answers over bookshop linked to Sinn Féin after police meeting

ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph,

A DUP MLA has said the “public deserve answers” over a Sinn Féin-linked bookshop that has come under scrutiny for its unusual finances, following a meeting with the PSNI.

Phillip Brett met with the PSNI yesterday regarding Green Cross Belfast Limited, which until May 1 was called Green Cross (Art and Bookshop) Limited.

The company directors are ex-Sinn Féin finance chief Sinéad Walsh and former IRA prisoner Pádraic Wilson.

It has more than £220,000 in assets, according to Companies House records, but no online or physical presence.

The nature of Green Cross's business is listed as “retail sale of books in specialised stores”.

As of September 30 last year, it had assets of £226,361, but financial statements show no evidence of activity that would normally be associated with a retail business, such as details of liabilities to creditors or payroll information. 

Green Cross hasn't held any stock of value since 2006, but its reported net assets increased significantly from £67,441 in September 2018 to £185,027 in 2019.

The company's average number of employees is listed as zero, while its address on Companies House is not a bookshop, but an accountant's office, which appears to have no connection to the business.

Last week the PSNI said it has received a report regarding Green Cross and has “commenced enquiries”.

Public deserves answers

Phillip Brett said the public deserves answers.

“There is a significant disconnect between assets and apparent activity in relation to this company,” he said.

“It has six-figure assets yet little evidence of trading. The public would undoubtedly like answers about its trading history, how it accumulated those assets and, more obviously, if anyone has ever actually purchased a book from it.

“I welcome the fact that the PSNI are investigating this matter and those connected to this issue.

“The public deserves answers regardless of how uncomfortable it may be for some. I will continue to pursue this issue to ensure the truth comes to light and the law is equally applied to all.”

Sinn Féin said Green Cross “has no financial connections” to the party.

In February, solicitor Padraig Ó Muirigh, who acts for Green Cross, said it is a charitable company, registered with HMRC, limited by guarantee and registered with Companies House.

“My client meets all legal requirements through its submissions to Companies House and to HMRC,” he added.

“Green Cross Art & Bookshop Ltd has not been operating as a retail business since 2010, but the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) has erroneously not been updated.

“I am instructed by my clients that this will be rectified at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Mr Ó Muirigh did not respond to a request for comment regarding the PSNI enquiries.

Green Cross director Sinéad Walsh was previously the director of another much-scrutinised company, Research Services Ireland, alongside Seamus Drumm, at the same time both were directors of Sinn Féin's Stormont operation a decade ago.

In 2014, it came to light that the company, which is now defunct, was paid approximately £700,000 by 36 different Sinn Féin MLAs through Stormont expenses over the course of a decade, but no evidence could be found of any research it carried out.

The PSNI was contacted for comment.

Stormont has unspoken Speaker problem, which is unfair to Edwin Poots and the rest of us

SAM MCBRIDE, NORTHERN IRELAND EDITOR, Belfast Telegraph, May 9th, 2026

EVEN DUP MAN NOW SAYS THERE IS 'A POTENTIAL ISSUE', BUT MLAS CAN'T EVEN BRING THEMSELVES TO DEAL WITH IT COMMENT

Imagine if the referee in the FA Cup Final knew he'd only have a job next year if the manager of one of the teams in the final approved. It's a preposterous situation, which would never be tolerated. Yet, in an immeasurably more important field, this is exactly what's happening.

If Edwin Poots, the current Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, wishes to stay in politics next year, he will have to go to the leader of the DUP and get Gavin Robinson's permission to be that party's candidate in South Belfast.

The Speaker of any legislature needs to be independent. In Westminster, there is a long tradition of respect for the independence of the chair.

The Speaker embodies not only the link between good order and rational debate, but also represents the democratic power of the legislature — especially when it finds itself in conflict with the executive branch of government.

Yet from the very point of devolution after the Good Friday Agreement, Stormont contained a fundamental flaw in this area. MLAs have known this means they have a problem, but have actively chosen not to address it.

As a consequence, there is the curious situation whereby the referee who will keep order as a compressed sphere of air is kicked around Wembley next weekend is more independent than the man presiding over the place in which many of Northern Ireland's laws are made.

In Westminster, the Speaker must sever all links to his or her party; their career as a partisan is over, and their role as Speaker will be the final one of their political career.

If they wish to stand for re-election, there is a long-standing convention whereby the major parties do not contest the seat. They are above grubby political wrestling and there is a cross-party consensus which appreciates why that is crucial.

In Stormont, this doesn't happen. When Willie Hay — now Lord Hay — was Speaker from 2007, he would flip between an entirely non-partisan role and then standing with a DUP rosette while campaigning for re-election on the basis of a DUP manifesto.

As it happens, the only Speakers to have stood for re-election are both from the DUP — Lord Hay and Robin Newton.

This wasn't the fault of Hay or Newton any more than it is Poots's fault if he stands for the DUP (I asked if he intended to do so, but didn't get an answer). They are perfectly entitled to do this.

Yet for years, it has been known that this is problematic — yet no one has dealt with it.

The Assembly website states that “the chief characteristics of the Office of Speaker are authority and impartiality” and that “he does not become involved in party politics”.

No free lunches

This is simply not true. Speakers do become involved in party politics — and everyone knows this, but turns a blind eye to something demonstrably problematic.

When I asked the Assembly about this, it highlighted that Poots doesn't attend DUP group meetings and has shunned many of the overtly political elements of an MLA's role. This is true.

But it is also true that already Poots is canvassing South Belfast with leaflets bearing the DUP logo, making clear that he is a DUP MLA.

Four years ago, it was revealed that the then Speaker, Alex Maskey, was making large donations to his party, Sinn Fein.

He broke neither rules nor the law, but clearly he hadn't severed all ties with his party.

Robin Newton ended in 2017 in the untenable situation where everyone from the SDLP and Sinn Féin to Lord Trimble were telling him he'd lost the confidence of the chamber after making decisions about Assembly business which related to a group headed by a UDA boss — without declaring he had links to the group.

Arlene Foster had proposed Newton as “superbly well qualified” for the post. She apparently continued to think so even as his blunders piled up — but that drew yet further attention to the fact that he remained a DUP member.

A motion of no confidence was tabled in the hapless Newton, only for the DUP to farcically make the point that they viewed him as one of their own by tabling a petition of concern — a mechanism designed to protect unionism or nationalism when one side or the other felt its interests were threatened. Newton would then go to Foster and get her permission to stand again for election — as a DUP candidate.

The lack of complete independence for the Speaker creates perceptions of bias, even where it might not exist. In 2013, Hay stopped Green Party leader Steven Agnew from referring to the DUP as the “Developers' Union Party” in a planning debate.

It may well have been that Hay was just a stickler for proper party names — and that another Speaker from another party would also have intervened. This happens plenty of times, and Hay once put Iris Robinson out of the chamber.

But the perception of a more partisan interest is powerful when it's clear the Speaker had links to the party being lampooned.

Maskey's actions — and those of Newton — are in contrast to how the first Speaker after the Agreement, Lord Alderdice, adopted a strict differentiation between himself and the party he'd led until that point — much to the annoyance of some in Alliance. A former party colleague recalled that Alderdice would not even have lunch with MLAs.

I happen to think that Poots has been a fundamentally good Speaker, demonstrating consistency and fairness in the chair, encouraging proper debate where some would turn the already dull Assembly into a borefest where party press releases are read out, asserting the authority of the Assembly over the Executive, and restraining his political instincts.

In fact, I think every Assembly Speaker has largely been a success — with the exception of Newton. By all accounts, Newton is a decent man, but he was demonstrably out of his depth.

One of the best Speakers was Mitchel McLaughlin, who perhaps had the hardest job in that he was the first republican Speaker and faced considerable scrutiny.

Ultimately, he was fair in the chair, while having the crucial intellect and experience to deal with points of order and procedural disputes.

In a declassified file, which I recently found in The National Archives in Kew, there is a record of a 2002 meeting between the then Alliance leader David Ford and Tony Blair's powerful chief of staff, Jonathan Powell.

Along with discussing the status of the IRA ceasefire, the future of devolution, and David Trimble's demand for a border poll (yes, back then it was a unionist leader who wanted a referendum on Irish unity), Ford raised the issue of the Speaker.

He said that “the Speakers of the devolved legislatures in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should, like the Speaker of the Irish Dail, be automatically returned with his constituency holding an election for one fewer MLA.”

In a paper he gave to Downing Street, Ford set out the crux of the problem: “In general, it is likely to be very difficult for a Speaker elected as an MLA…to gain the support of his/her party and obtain a nomination at the next election, following a period of neutrality in the chair.

“In any contested selection, it will be a disadvantage to have been Speaker.

“Active party campaigners will be more likely to attract support from party members.”

Dail Option

Ford highlighted that “there is a precedent from the Dail to deal with this difficulty. The outgoing Speaker, if he wishes, is given an automatic return with his constituency holding an election for one fewer TD in the general election. This allows the Speaker to return to the Dail and to retain, or give up, the Speaker's position after the election.”

This would not mean a Speaker would be able to continue indefinitely. If at any point they lost the confidence of the House, they could be removed and would serve out the rest of their term as an independent MLA.

More than a decade ago, John McCallister tried to address some of these problems in his bill, which gave Stormont its first official opposition since 1998. But MLAs overwhelmingly voted down a proposal which would have seen the Speaker removed from being a constituency MLA and allowed his or her party to co-opt someone to take their place.

McCallister also proposed that the Speaker should be elected by secret ballot, as happens in London and Dublin. That prevents parties from controlling the process.

In Stormont, MLAs in the big parties are told how to vote once their leaders decide who to back. This means that from the outset, the Speaker is the choice of party leaderships, and that person knows this.

Indeed, this is likely a central reason as to why these anomalies have never been addressed. The DUP and Sinn Féin like power, and don't want to give it up. If they agree to reform any element of the Speaker's role, this aspect is likely to be altered at the same time.

And yet there is an argument that parties don't — or at least shouldn't — gain much from one of their members getting the role. For an individual, the Speaker is a plum job.

The salary is high (£105,000), as is the pension; they get use of a grace and favour house on the Stormont Estate; they get to meet visiting dignitaries; and the work isn't as onerous as that of a government minister.

But parties lose an MLA, which means one less vote in key Assembly divisions.

Stormont's half-hearted effort to keep the Speaker out of controversy without severing ties with their party ultimately is unfair on both the Speaker and their constituents.

The Speaker is left with the responsibility of representing a constituency, but generally cannot use the media or the Assembly to criticise a government department, cannot table Assembly questions and cannot advocate for constituents in the chamber.

The Speaker is expected to simultaneously be a politician and not be a politician.

This Janus-headed contradiction leaves the Speaker at a disadvantage if they want to run again for election. A party colleague who has been forthright in areas where the Speaker has been silent might be preferred by the local constituency association, and by voters, over a Speaker who stuck to the rules and held his or her tongue.

All this matters because the Speaker exerts enormous influence in ways which are publicly invisible. He has the power to block legislation if he believes it is outside the Assembly's powers.

He can refer ministerial decisions to the Executive — where they may be blocked by either the DUP or Sinn Fein. He gets to select which amendments to bills can be debated in the chamber.

The Speaker is also given exceptional protection from Assembly scrutiny. Comments on the character or the actions of the Speaker may be punished as breaches of privilege.

The Assembly said in a statement that the Speaker steps aside from “active party politics” and this involves undertaking engagements to represent the whole Assembly even if that might not reflect their party position. This is true, and to an extent, every Speaker has risen above party politics.

But in a letter to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee that in examining Stormont reforms, Poots last year said: “In the context of a Speaker having a constituency like all other members, and currently having no option but to run for re-election under their party label, I can see myself that that is a potential issue, and distraction, for any Speaker.”

There are elements of Stormont reform which are complex and controversial, often involving tribal factors.

This area involves no such complications; if Stormont can't fix this, there's little hope of it resolving more sophisticated dilemmas.

Zero accountability: Why Katie Simpson inquiry corrodes confidence in PSNI 

GAIL WALKER, Belfast Telegraph, May 9th, 2026

The report on the PSNI investigation of the death of showjumper Katie Simpson is a formidable catalogue of failings. It is difficult to convey the scale of the mishandling over two separate inquiry teams.

The errors were so many, so profound and went on for so long that it is incredible such incompetence was tolerated in any public service, let alone in a police force.

Don't let anybody think that this report is a closure. It simply records the extent of the wrongdoing for which it appears nobody will be held to account. Such is the spectacular degree of ineptitude, that lack of justice will continue to corrode public confidence like acid.

Of six officers identified as having engaged in misconduct, only one received a formal warning. In the second stage of the investigation, five of the seven officers retired prior to the conclusion of the Police Ombudsman process.

The PSNI must be the only job in society where allegations of reputational misconduct are rewarded by early retirement, a pension and the shelving of any disciplinary proceedings.

Yet the evidence is here — paragraph by paragraph, line by line, the eccentric decision-making of police officers from rookie constables to senior officers is exposed.

Katie (21) was groomed and killed by Jonathan Creswell, the partner of her sister Christina, but her death in 2020 was initially treated as suicide. Creswell was later charged with her murder but took his own life during the trial in 2024.

“Not one officer thought seriously about abuse/control,” the report said. “Police inaction rendered her invisible in her own murder, allowing Creswell to maintain control even after death.”

Nurses, a journalist, friends and, most importantly of all, the family of the victim saw this calamitous investigation happening with their own eyes in real time, tried to intervene and were rebuffed.

They found themselves at the end of the process, thanks to the fouling of the process, without justice for the murderer. They were left with nothing, most of all without Katie.

Bear in mind, this perpetrator was not hard to find. He drove the victim part of the way to hospital, then played the police like a fiddle for seven months. In many ways Creswell led the investigation, cosplaying a grieving brother-in-law traumatised by finding a suicide. The fact that he had a long history of abusing women and girls, including a spell in prison for a brutal assault on his ex-partner Abi Lyle, didn't ring a single alarm bell.

While Dr Jan Melia's review, commissioned by the Department of Justice, is a big step forward, it doesn't bring closure. The people responsible for this miscarriage of justice have got off scot-free from any consequence of their behaviours.

Of course anyone can make a mistake, but when everybody makes mistakes of the same sort every day for months on end, questions need answered. Saying 'no' to the obvious over and over again, from rejecting even the possibility that the injured woman did not try to kill herself right through to the murder suspect getting bail ahead of his trial with access throughout to the women and girls he was so fond of abusing, is beyond 'mistakes'. That's dereliction of duty.

Please read the report on the Department of Justice website. Here's something of what you'll find.

Failings

After Katie was transferred at the roadside to an ambulance, police told Creswell to drive the car he transported her in, straight to Altnagelvin Hospital. Instead, he returned home to shower and change his clothing. When officers interviewed him at the hospital, there he is on bodycam footage in a different T-shirt. Officers don't bat an eyelid. Had they done so, they might have discovered he had given his clothes to a female friend to wash.

They failed to secure Katie, Creswell, the car and the house as potential crime scenes. The bodycam footage recorded at the house ran from 09.02 to 09.06 hours. That's four minutes — or, as the review states, “a very quick walkthrough”. A second clip — only three seconds — shows the ligature on the staircase.

Police missed that Katie's underwear was bloodstained and, proving no service had a monopoly on letting her down, senior hospital staff didn't make officers aware of this fact.

Doctors noted bruising on Katie's body but police made no effort to establish it was consistent with falling from a horse, as Creswell had claimed, nor did they photograph her injuries.

A nurse noticed Katie had vaginal bleeding and discharge and requested an evidence bag for her underwear yet police did not treat it as possible sexual assault evidence. Her underwear was bagged up but not examined.

Despite media speculation that Creswell's criminal record had been erased from police computer systems, in fact all the information was there. Officers failed to check properly and found only his driving offences.

Police picked up on none of the numerous discrepancies in Creswell's initial accounts of events.

Katie's friend Paul Lusby made multiple calls to the PSNI about Creswell. A wrong reference number was given and information lost. Police shredded notes of another interview. His initial attempt to lodge a complaint with the Police Ombudsman was wrongly disallowed by the Ombudsman's office. Mr Lusby felt threatened by Creswell. He took his own life in 2022.

Meanwhile, Creswell held court, shaping the narrative about Katie's character and mental state to an audience of gullible PSNI officers.

While Katie was in hospital, police only talked to Creswell and her sister Christina, even though Katie's parents were present and her mother was next-of-kin.

This review cannot be the last word. It finds the PSNI's inquiry reflected “institutional misogyny” — this in a context of rhetoric over violence against women and girls.

Violent predator

One officer referred to Creswell as a “bad boy” and “philanderer” — euphemistic language and a culture many of us recognise and quite different from acknowledging him as a violent predator.

Creswell was one of the lads, great craic, loud in bars, had an eye for young girls. Pals held a party for him when he got out of jail for his terrifying assault on Ms Lyle. He told everyone she was the problem, emotionally unstable — just as he victim-blamed Katie.

The review found that 37 other victims — including children — later came forward alleging abuse by Creswell. That they previously felt unable to speak up is deeply disturbing.

Justice Minister Naomi Long is to be commended for introducing legislation that will see new misconduct investigations continue even if the officer resigns or retires. Unfortunately, it won't apply retrospectively.

Unbothered by the PSNI, Creswell was able to parade himself at Katie's funeral — another glaring mistake. Indeed, there's a pattern of crocodile tears getting you access to a grieving family at their most vulnerable. Natalie McNally's killer Stephen McCullagh attended her wake.

The PSNI needs to find a way to make reparations to the Simpson family. That might involve setting up scholarships in Katie's name for female officers to specialise in misogynistic crime. The force needs to review its training because it has failed in basic policing.

There is much to applaud in today's police service, not least the clear integrity of most officers and the willingness to refer imperfect investigations for review. But the level of error requires immediate and radical repair and change.

There must be no more scandalous accounts of poor police judgment and victims betrayed.

Over 300 illegal waste sites reported in a year

ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, May 9th, 2026

NEW FIGURES LAY BARE SCALE OF PROBLEM AND LOW PROSECUTION RATE

In the past financial year, 339 illegal waste dumping sites were identified across Northern Ireland - but only six cases a year, on average, result in a successful prosecution, new figures have revealed.

Illegal waste dumping is a huge problem here, with at least 300,000 tonnes being discarded each year, costing the public purse £34m annually, according to a recent Audit Office report.

Despite being such a widespread and environmentally damaging problem, prosecutions have been rare and financial penalties significantly less than the cost of legal waste disposal and public clean-up costs.

For instance, between 2019 and 2024 there were 52 criminal convictions in relation to waste crime in NI, resulting in fines of almost £100,000 and confiscation orders of £900,000. This compares with the £17.2m estimated costs that those responsible should have paid for legally disposing of the waste involved in the offences.

From 2021 to 2025, there were 29 successful prosecutions for illegal dumping, including seven last year. Over this period, there was an average of six successful prosecutions each year.

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) Minister Andrew Muir recently revealed that, in the past financial year, 339 illegal waste sites were reported to and accepted for investigation by the Environmental Crime Unit of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

In terms of illegal waste sites by council area, they were most prevalent in Newry, Mourne and Down (48) and least prevalent in Fermanagh and Omagh (18).

Deeply concerning

Patsy McGlone, SDLP MLA for Mid Ulster, where 25 illegal waste dumping sites were detected in 2025/26, said: “The scale of illegal dumping across NI is deeply concerning.

“These sites damage our natural environment, threaten wildlife, harm biodiversity and contribute to wider pollution problems, including those affecting Lough Neagh. The fact that this activity continues on such a large scale shows that many of those involved do not fear the consequences and believe they can operate with impunity.

“The number of prosecutions remains far too low and there are serious questions about whether enforcement agencies have the resources and powers they need to tackle this issue effectively.

“We need to see the Daera Minister working alongside his Executive colleagues, including the Justice Minister, to ensure those responsible for illegal dumping are pursued properly and held accountable.”

A Daera spokesperson said illegal waste sites recorded by NIEA vary significantly: “They range from small‑scale fly‑tipping incidents involving limited volumes of waste, to more extensive illegal dumping operations involving large quantities of material, multiple waste streams or hazardous waste.

“The NIEA works with district councils based on a mutually agreed Fly-Tipping Protocol... Councils may also refer cases to NIEA where there are significant environmental risks or enforcement considerations,” said a spokesperson, adding that it is not possible to give a reliable estimate of the number of large‑scale illegal waste sites as they are, by their nature, “concealed, unlicensed, with no formal reporting or registration mechanisms”.

Britain is broken and all the king’s men won’t put it back together

PATRICK MURPHY, Irish News, May 9th, 2026

THE collapse of Britain’s economy and society has now been reflected in its politics.

That’s the main lesson from the English local government elections and the parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales.

They show that the traditional carve-up of power between Labour and Conservative has largely collapsed.

In England it has been replaced by a multi-party culture. In Scotland and more particularly in Wales, it has strengthened nationalism.

Britain is not just broke financially, it is now broken in so many different ways.

Like Humpty Dumpty, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will be unable to put it back together again – especially since the monarchy itself is now more unpopular than ever, and the British army is at its lowest numbers in over 200 years.

The outcome has been that in political terms, Keir Starmer is a dead man walking, English local government has swung massively towards Trump-style politics, and Scotland and Wales have distanced themselves even further from London. Welcome to shattered Britain. In England, two new significant political groups have emerged.

The first consists of civic-minded, community-orientated urban dwellers, who have switched to the pro-EU Green Party from Labour.

They picked up seats in cities such as Oxford and Southampton, but the first-past-the-post electoral system makes it difficult for them to translate support into power.

The second group has a greater critical mass and has made significant gains.

It consists of what are termed dissenting disruptors, who are anti-establishment and anti-EU. They seek dramatic change and are typified by those who have abandoned both Labour and the Conservatives for Reform UK.

It has picked up seats from Labour in former industrial towns such as Hartlepool, Wigan and Bolton. It made huge progress in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Havering at the expense of the Tories.

Reform UK’s rise should come as no surprise. The first signs of political unrest in Britain came with the 2016 pro-Brexit vote. It was essentially an anti-establishment protest against increasing economic hardship and the failure of government to address it.

However, like a dog chasing a car which then stops, the Conservatives did not know what to do with Brexit when they finally caught it.

The anti-establishment vote had changed nothing and that resentment has now boiled over.

Losing the welfare state

Britain’s social and economic inequality can be traced to Thatcher’s abandonment of the welfare state, which was made worse by her policy of replacing manufacturing industry with financial services.

Tony Blair responded by making Labour a Tory party. Now Starmer has gone further and made the party a political vacuum. No-one knows what Labour stands for these days.

Of course, he was never a politician – just a political robot built and operated by a man from Cork.

He is the latest in a procession of the worst prime ministers in British history since Neville Chamberlain returned from Berlin with the news that Hitler wasn’t such a bad fellow after all.

Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak and Starmer are all Oxford graduates – with not an ounce of political ability between them (It would make you wonder what they teach them in Oxford these days).

When Britain needed someone to undo what Thatcher had done, it got the bland, the unethical and the downright useless.

That in turn has helped nationalism in Wales and Scotland. Despite suggestions that this will break up the United Kingdom, it will make little difference in the short term.

Plaid Cymru’s campaign merely advocated increased autonomy within the UK rather than independence from it, and it concentrated instead on social and economic issues.

Scottish independence, for now at least, is likely to remain more of a romantic ideal than a serious proposition. The Scottish nationalists did not emphasise an independence referendum during their campaign – but a lot depends on how events unfold in London.

So what happens now? The challenge for Labour is to find a new leader, but the political robot has picked a cabinet of robots and until the party can find a human leader, it will continue to slide.

The Tories will spend eternity regretting they ever heard of Boris Johnson, and Reform UK’s challenge is to make the transition from local to national government.

In a multi-party system, it might just make it, but that depends on holding together a group of people who are still more a rabble than a party.

As for us, we can only look across the Irish Sea and watch the attempts to put Humpty Dumpty together again. It will not happen any time soon.