Sinn Féin MP John Finucane has said the family of Gerard Lawlor deserve truth and justice. 

The North Belfast MP was speaking after the Police Ombudsman found there were ‘significant failings’ in the PSNI investigation into the 2002 murder. 

John Finucane said:
  

“Nineteen-year-old Gerard Lawlor was murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries on 22 July 2002.  

‘His family have continued to campaign for the truth of what happened that night and raised concerns about how the PSNI investigation was conducted.
 
Today the Police Ombudsman has ruled there were ‘significant failings’ in the PSNI investigation stating ‘I have concluded that a number of the complaints, allegations and concerns made by the family about police actions and omissions are legitimate and justified’.

“This catalogue of failings included the failure to link the murder with a series of sectarian attacks; failure to conduct searches, arrests and interviews in a timely manner; failure to maintain CCTV viewing logs; failure to obtain all relevant telecommunications data; as well as a failure to fully consider the dissemination of all relevant intelligence to the Senior Investigating Officer.

“Sinn Féin will continue to stand with the Lawlor family in their efforts to uncover the truth about Gerard’s murder.”