The Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Mrs Nuala O'Loan tonight faced demands for her resignation as a new row flared over her damning assessment of the Omagh bomb inquiry.
Furious police chiefs in Northern Ireland accused her of wrongly claiming victory after a legal bid to overturn the devastating report on the investigation into atrocity was dropped.
Police Federation chairman Mr Irwin Montgomery said: "She ought to consider her position because of the way she has gone about her job."
Mrs O'Loan's scathing appraisal of the hunt for the Real IRA bombers who killed 29 people and two unborn twins in the August 1998 attack on the Co Tyrone town stands after both sides seemed to reach agreement at the High Court in Belfast yesterday.
The Ombudsman conceded she should have given former Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan more time before she published her controversial findings in December 2001.
But she insisted: "The challenge has been withdrawn and I have been very concerned about the Omagh families over the past year, but they can now rest content that the report remains."
The Police Association, which represents senior officers and rank and file members, was left incensed by her interpretation. It had applied for a judicial review of her findings, claiming her report was grossly unfair.
Her scathing report on how police handled the investigation into Northern Ireland's worst terrorist outrage left senior officers shocked and furious.
In the legal compromise it was agreed the litigation should be halted while the Ombudsman accepted senior Police Service of Northern Ireland officers should have been given more notice of the allegations against them.
But the bitter divisions erupted again today as angry officers insisted the court challenge had never been about whether the Ombudsman's allegations were right.
Mr Montgomery, who also chairs the Police Association, said: "The issue at stake for the judicial review was the concern that natural justice had not been afforded to members at all levels because of the manner in which the Ombudsman went about compiling the Omagh report.
PA