Speaking after raising the issue at the start of business in the Assembly today, the DUP MLA said,
“I welcome that the officers who faced these proceedings have been formally cleared. Belfast High Court deemed a decision to suspend one of the officers, and reposition the other, was unlawful – and was in response to political interference from Sinn Fein.
Despite this ruling, bizarrely the PSNI pressed ahead with a misconduct charge against the suspended officer, who rightly then appealed the decision to issue him with a written warning and that appeal was upheld on Friday.
The words of the Police Federation’s chair Liam Kelly were striking when he talked of “misinformation” and “irrational conjecture” that has been circulated since the original incident. He said they were “appalled by the amount of misinformation, baseless rumours and irrational conjecture around this incident.”
The time has now come for those who engaged misinformation and baseless rumour to apologise for their actions.
The now First Minister accused the PSNI of unjustified heavy-handed tactics
The MP for South Down described the actions by the PSNI as vindictive and cowardly.
These remarks have been disproven by the courts and the Police Ombudsman.
The time has now come for the First Minister to apologise for her remarks and make a public apology to those officers who have been fully exonerated.
The interference by politicians in due process cannot be repeated and the lessons of this incident must be learnt.
The PSNI must be allowed to continue to serve all sections of our community without fear or favour.”