Widow of murdered loyalist ends case after waiting 12 years for body parts

The widow of a murdered loyalist has settled her legal action over his body parts being retained for 12 years.

Agnes Coulter sued the PSNI and the State Patologist, claiming psychological distress at discovering her late husband Jackie's tissue samples had been kept.

Mr Coulter was shot dead by the UVF on Belfast's Crumlin Road during a violent paramilitary feud in August 2000.

Her lawyers were seeking damages at the High Court, alleging there was no legal power for the retention which only came to light more than a decade later.

But following negotiations Patrick Lyttle QC, for Mrs Coulter, confirmed a resolution to the action.

She is to receive costs under the terms of an undisclosed settlement where no liability was admitted.

Congratulating the parties on reaching the outcome, Mr Justice McAlinden said it had been "a sensitive and difficult case in a difficult legal field".

In 2012 police apologised for the distress caused to families when it emerged that body parts and tissue had been kept in more than 60 cases.

The samples were retained for investigative purposes in murders, suspicious deaths and road traffic accidents.

At the time Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton, now the Chief Constable, said the force had acted within the law but accepted relatives should have been informed.

Northern Ireland's then State Pathologist, Professor Jack Crane, had explained how material was to help determine the precise cause of death and for evidential reasons.

Opening the lawsuit, however, Mr Lyttle described the situation as "appalling".

He argued: "The left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing."

According to the barrister police were in breach of their statutory duty.

"It was a complete and total shambles," he insisted.

"Between 2000 when this tissue was taken and 012 when it was finally sent back, did anyone in either the police service or the pathology service ever turn their mind in any shape or form to whether this material was relevant, and whether it should be sent back to the family."

Mr Lyttle contended that the response of the PSNI at the time of the revelation, when it maintained the retention was lawful, amounted to "weasel words".

Counsel for the State Pathologist, Brett Lockhart QC, took exception to the characterisation, claiming it suggested an element of bad faith.

But based on the sensitivities of the case, the judge refused to find that the "emotive language" had been out of place.

He pointed out that Mr Hamilton's statement in 2012 amounted to "a contrite admission on the part of the authorities that things weren't done as they should have been done".

The case had been listed for up to three days before the settlement was reached.

Belfast Telegraph