The North's Police Ombudsman suggested yesterday that disciplinary action could not now be taken against former RUC officers who may know the truth about an "appalling" attack by colleagues on a Derry man 32 years ago. Mr Samuel Devenny died three months after he, his children and others were batoned and kicked by RUC men in their William Street home on April 19th, 1969.
The controversial attack, the death of 42-year-old Mr Devenny and the failure to prosecute any of the police involved led to widespread protests and a gross deterioration in relations between the nationalist community and the RUC.
At a press conference in Derry yesterday, the ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, upheld a complaint by Mr Devenny's family that the RUC never communicated to them directly about the incident or about subsequent investigations.
She said it was "highly regrettable" that the then Chief Constable, Sir Arthur Young, "did not deal with the family appropriately".
Mrs O'Loan said her office had agreed to examine a fresh complaint from the Devenny family because she believed the case to be "grave and exceptional".
She confirmed, however, that she had not carried out a new investigation of the Devenny case. Instead, she had sought out and examined an unpublished report of an "extensive and thorough" investigation carried out by Metropolitan Police officers under Det Chief Supt Kenneth Drury.
When her office asked the RUC for a copy of the Drury Report the reply was that they did not have one. A complete copy was later obtained from an unspecified source.
Mrs O'Loan said she could not release the full report, but had provided the Devenny family certain details of it. These recorded that Mr Devenny, his son and two friends stood at his front door watching nearby riots, but went inside and tried to close the door as the rioting intensified.
A number of youths ran in past them and police forced the door open but did not make any attempt to find the youths, according to the report.
She continued: "The report says that officers beat Mr Devenny about the head and kicked and batoned him in front of his younger children . . . It says he was left lying on the floor with blood pouring from a number of head wounds and with his dentures and spectacles broken."
According to Mrs O'Loan, the Drury Report also records that RUC men attacked 16-year-old Catherine Devenny, who was lying on a sofa recovering from surgery. She was batoned, pulled off the sofa and kicked, before losing consciousness. Another daughter, Ann (18), lay across her father to protect him, but was kicked and thrown across the room.
Mr Devenny's son, Harry, and two other men were also attacked, one being left unconscious in the hallway. Mr Devenny was treated in hospital and was readmitted within days with a coronary attack. He died within three months from another heart attack.
Mrs O'Loan said the Drury Report had not been able to identify the officers who carried out the attack. However, she said: "It identifies four officers that it believes knew what happened but who 'were in fear of retribution from colleagues' if they told the truth".
She said the Drury investigation could neither prove nor disprove the allegation that Mr Devenny's death had resulted from the RUC attack.
Mrs O'Loan said the four officers mentioned in the report were no longer serving members of the force, and she had concluded that it would not be possible after all this time to pursue disciplinary action against them.
The eldest son of Samual Devenny said yesterday that the family had been "demonised" after his father's death, and the "conspiracy of silence" within the RUC had added insult to injury.
Mr Harry Devenny alleged that: "We were denied employment on 'security grounds' because we were the children of Sammy Devenny."
He said the police ombudsman's report had come too late for their deceased mother, but the family were hopeful that it would "help us along the road to emotional closure".
Mr Devenny said the family was "mystified" as to why the RUC had been unable to furnish a copy of the Drury investigation to the ombudsman.
It is understood that the family has now been provided with an 18-page synopsis - compiled by the Police Ombudsman's Office - of the Drury Report's findings.
The Devenny family called on the present Chief Constable to respond to the report, saying he was "duty bound" to break the conspiracy of silence.