Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows MLA has written to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Jacqui Durkin, seeking assurances on the impartiality of her office following comments she made in an interview on the Nolan Show.

In the letter, Party Leader Jon Burrows, a former Head of Discipline Branch within the PSNI, congratulates Ms Durkin on her appointment and welcomes her stated intention to prioritise investigations into officers who abuse their position for sexual purposes, but sets out continuing concerns about the approach investigators are directed to take at the outset of a complaint.

Jon Burrows said:

“Anyone who comes forward with an allegation of sexual abuse or exploitation by a police officer must be treated with compassion, support and empathy, and must know their complaint will be investigated thoroughly. That is fundamental to public confidence.

“But treating an allegation seriously is not the same thing as accepting it as fact before a single piece of evidence has been gathered. The logical extension of a presumption of belief is a presumption of guilt against the officer concerned, and that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the Ombudsman's role as an impartial investigator.

“This is not only about fairness to officers. If investigators do not rigorously test all the available evidence, they will fail to establish the truth, and that failure harms genuine victims seeking justice just as much as it harms the wrongly accused.

“I have sought clear reassurance that the Ombudsman's office remains committed to rigorous impartiality, and that investigators are being directed to approach every complaint with an open mind and a determination to establish the truth.”

The letter also requests a meeting to discuss wider concerns about the Office of the Police Ombudsman, including the speed of investigations, entrenched delays within the organisation, accountability structures, and reforms the Ulster Unionist Party Leader believes are necessary.