A rally took place at the Dairy Farm shopping centre yesterday to coincide with the publication of the Ombudsman's report into the 1993 killing of local teenager Damien Walsh, shot dead by loyalists on the site.
17-year-old Damien was murdered by the UDA at the Dairy Farm shopping centre on March 25, 1993, as he worked at a fuel depot in full view of the British Army surveillance unit.
The Police Ombudsman report into the murder found "significant failures" and "collusive police behaviours" in the investigation, as well as in an RUC decision to suspend a surveillance operation against his killers just days before the shooting.
Ombudsman Marie Anderson found that the "UDA alone" were responsible for the Damien's murder. However, she stated that the RUC decision to suspend a surveillance operation against the UDA's 'C company' had "indirectly contributed" to their being able to carry out the killing without impediment.
""In my view this amounted to a deliberate decision that constituted collusive behaviour on the part of police," she said.
In 2010, a Historical Enquiries Team report said soldiers were watching the Dairy Farm at the time of the killing because the complex had been frequented by the IRA and that they had information that bomb-making materials were being stored there.
Ms Anderson found that a senior investigating officer in Damien's case was not told of the surveillance operation of the Dairy Farm complex and was not made aware that soldiers had witnessed the shooting.
Intelligence indicating that the UDA had "received information from police" was also withheld.
The report stated that the proximity of the attack to a business unit being used by the IRA "suggested that gunmen had prior knowledge of the PIRA activities at the Dairy Farm".
None of the three suspects' in the case had their homes searched for evidence and no one has ever been charged with Damien's murder.
The person found with the Browning pistol used in the shooting was not subjected to forensic tests, and police later destroyed the weapon.
Following the release of the report, a rally was held at the Dairy Farm in support of the Walsh family.
Speaking at the rally, Damien Walsh's mother Marian said the report was "just the beginning" of her fight for justice.
"The Ombudsman is unable to state that there actually was collusion, but the terms that she uses such as 'collusive behaviours' are the same thing basically," she said. "And the details that she gives lets you see that there was collusion. I'm absolutely disgusted at the RUC/PSNI - because to me it's the same thing - and the way that they have dealt with this case over the years. The way they've hidden the facts, the way they've colluded with the killers and protected the killers, and also the way they've protected informers."
She added: "Hopefully the other families that are waiting for reports like this will get their reports soon - we need to know the truth, there can be no justice without truth and no truth without justice, and we have to keep fighting for this."
