Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan faced an open revolt from staff opposed to her decision to become involved in the Robert McCartney murder inquiry, it was revealed today.
They planned a vote of no-confidence after she offered to take witness statements to break the wall of silence surrounding the killing outside a central Belfast bar.
Investigating officers in the watchdog organisation, outraged at being drawn into the hunt for IRA men who beat and stabbed the 33-year-old father-of-two to death in January last year, claimed the office's independence had been compromised.
Security fears were also raised by some staff alarmed at providing assistance to the inquiry into a paramilitary-related murder.
At least three of the officers who objected to the move have since quit, while another has been suspended from duty on a separate case.
Their departure has provoked demands for an inquiry into the handling of staff affairs within the Ombudsman's office.
A series of emails to senior members of staff revealed the level of anger felt by some members of Mrs O'Loan's team.
One said: "Single-handedly she has managed to annihilate five years' hard work by this office.
"She lectured us about impartiality and independence until our ears were bleeding and then goes out ... and creates what is effectively a two-tier police service."
Opposition to their involvement broke out among staff recruited in Northern Ireland and those seconded from outside police forces.
Up to 25 staff members in one investigative team were called to a meeting in March last year soon after it was announced that the Ombudsman's Office would be assisting by taking witness statements.
"There was a head count and we were confident a majority would endorse the vote of no confidence in Nuala O'Loan's decision to involve us with the McCartney murder investigation," one source disclosed.
It is understood the ballot was called off only after an appeal from a senior member of the team worried it would create difficulties for him with management.
Much of the anger and concern was based on the perceived risks of being linked to an inquiry focused on hardened IRA men suspected over the killing.
Although one man has been charged with the murder, the victim's sisters believe at least a dozen others were involved in the attack and subsequent cover-up.
With intimidation rife in east Belfast's staunchly republican Short Strand district, where members of the McCartney family lived until they moved out in disgust at their treatment, fears were expressed that the Ombudsman's representatives would be targeted next.
One member of staff hit out at senior managers after they insisted their role posed no risk to the organisation.
"I find this an incredible assertion," he wrote in another email. "Are these people [the IRA] who are intimidating the people of the Short Strand incapable of extending their threat to the members of this organisation, particularly the investigators who are the frontline representatives of the Police Ombudsman?
Another investigator contacted a team commander setting out a detailed opposition.
"I question why we, as investigators, are not permitted to disclose statements to police in other situations due to our 'independence', however in this case an exception has been made."
One of Mrs O'Loan's fiercest critics demanded to know why the scale of opposition was not made public.
Ian Paisley Jr, a Democratic Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, called for an inquiry into the Ombudsman's Office.
"If Nuala O'Loan was transparent about her own operation, she would have said she was facing these difficulties.
A spokesman for Mrs O'Loan confirmed anxiety was expressed by some of her officers. But he also stressed the Office had carried out similar work by offering to destroy DNA samples provided in an attempt to aid the inquiry into the murder of a new-born baby whose body was dumped near Belfast in 2002.
He said: "There was some concern among some staff about the Police Ombudsman's involvement in this case.
"But it was explained to those members of staff what we proposed to do and how we proposed to do it."
PA