Ombudsman to resign immediately

The former chief executive of the Police Ombudsman's office has called for Al Hutchinson to leave his post immediately.Sam Pollock resigned in April because he had lost confidence in the direction and independence of the office.He held his post for over 10 years.Mr Hutchinson has confirmed that he will step down next year, earlier than planned, but Mr Pollock told the BBC's Spotlight programme that he should go immediately."Until recently I had urged Mr Hutchinson to fix what was wrong and to fix it quickly," he said."I'd even urged the minister to support the Police Ombudsman in ensuring that it was fixed quickly."Now I feel let down by so much of what's happened, I would have to say on a personal level and on a professional level I think he should resign."Mr Pollock announced his resignation in March, claiming the independence of the office has been lowered.He told the Spotlight programme why he felt he had to leave his job."I sensed, in the end, a dilemma or a conflict in terms of dealing with the whole issue of informants," said Mr Pollock."To speak about the involvement of an informant either directly or indirectly in murder, the loss of life, some atrocities, you cannot fudge that."Al Hutchison has said he will step down as Police Ombudsman next June.The programme has also uncovered failings in a number of investigations by the ombudsman, including a complaint from the family of murdered republican informer Denis Donaldson.The self-confessed republican informer was shot dead at a remote cottage in Donegal in April 2006.But the ombudsman declared the case closed last year with a finding of 'no misconduct' by the police.Spotlight has established that investigators were not aware of a potentially vital piece of information that may shed light on what happened in Donegal.However, the ombudsman rejected claims that his office has gone soft on the police."I can assure everybody that we do deliver independent, impartial, evidence-based reports," said Mr Hutchinson."And whether that is perceived by the public or is not is certainly a matter of debate."