Troubles murder investigation unit to be abolished

A Waking the Dead style police unit established to solve thousands of unsolved murders from the Northern Ireland Troubles is to be abolished. The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Matt Baggott, has announced that the Historical Enquiries Team has three years left before it is wound up. His decision has angered nationalists who claim the team will not have enough time to examine more than 1,000 unsolved Troubles killings. The chief constable said there had to be a point when a line was drawn under historic investigations so police could focus resources on the present and future. "I am full of praise for the Historical Enquiries Team, and quite understand the concerns of victims that they want to see success, and so do I," Baggott said. "But the best place to do that now is to move some of these complex investigations back into the remit of the PSNI with the right oversight." But the SDLP assembly member for West Belfast, Alex Attwood, said he was surprised the chief constable had made the announcement without consulting Northern Ireland's Policing Board. Attwood, who is a member of the board, also voiced concern that the team's work could be completed within three years. It was still dealing with around 1,360 unsolved murders, he said. One of the team's most notorious cases is connected to Operation Ballast, an inquiry into a loyalist murder gang in north Belfast which it is alleged had links to RUC special branch officers. However, Ballast has now been taken out of the Historical Enquiries Team's remit and the investigation is in the hands of the PSNI despite protests from victims' families.