Northern Ireland police chief quits after series of controversies

The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has resigned after weeks of pressure over a series of issues including a serious data breach involving the personal information of more than 10,000 officers and support staff.

Policing board members accepted the resignation of Simon Byrne on Monday.

His resignation, discussed at an emergency meeting of the board on Monday, afternoon comes after a court ruled last week that the force unlawfully disciplined two junior officers to placate Sinn Féin.

In a separate crisis it emerged that data handling mistake led to the publication of personal information of more than 10,000 officers and support staff. Both issues prompted calls from political leaders for Byrne to go.

The seemingly crucial blow to Byrne’s leadership came last Tuesday when a high court judge, Mr Justice Scofield, ruled that the PSNI unlawfully disciplined two officers over their policing of a republican commemoration in Belfast in February 2021 during Covid-19 restrictions.

The officers briefly detained and handcuffed a man on suspicion of disorderly behaviour during a wreath-laying ceremony at the scene of a loyalist gun attack that killed five Catholics in 1992, prompting furious protests from Sinn Féin. Byrne apologised and the PSNI suspended one constable and repositioned the other.

More details soon …