Glenn Quinn, a man from Carrickfergus, was found beaten to death in his own house in January 2020. His family believes that members of the South East Antrim Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group, were behind his murder. The Police Ombudsman, Marie Anderson, has found that police failed to properly address intelligence that Quinn may have been under threat.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) received intelligence from an anonymous source on January 1, 2022. The information provided Quinn’s name and address, suggesting that he was going to be shot dead in his own home. Despite this information, Quinn was not informed that he may have been in danger because he was not linked to that address in the police system.
Anderson stated that if the police had confirmed that Quinn lived at the address, it would have given him a chance to receive a warning notice about the threat. Two duty inspectors assessed the intelligence and concluded that it did not pose a “real and immediate threat to life.” Anderson recommended that one of the inspectors be disciplined, but she could not recommend the same for the other inspector, as they had retired before the investigation’s conclusion.
The PSNI has apologized to Quinn’s family, and Anderson has stated that the agency has now implemented measures to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Chris Todd, the PSNI Deputy Chief Constable, apologized to Quinn’s family and agreed with Anderson’s findings. He noted that the complexity of policing makes intelligence an imprecise science and mistakes can occur
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