The involvement of former Special Branch officers and a former Intelligence officer in the disclosure process clearly compromises the integrity and independence of the Stalker Sampson inquests.

Some or all of these same officers were also involved in the disclosure process in connection with the inquest into the death of Pearse Jordan which was held in 2012 and played a key role in either deliberately or negligently withholding from the coroner information relevant to Pearse Jordan’s death, including details of one officer who was involved in the fatal shooting of Michael Tighe and the wounding of Martin McCauley in November 1982.

There is now a clear case of institutional and actual bias because some of these officers personally know and served with many of the witnesses in this case and actively witheld from a Coroner information which was adverse to the interests of their former colleagues.