Glenn Quinn murder: Family meet with Chief Constable over findings of Ombudsman report

The damning report, published by the Police Ombudsman on Sunday, reveals how police received intelligence that Mr Quinn was to be shot dead three days before the 47-year-old was found beaten to death at his Ashleigh Park home.

Officers found Mr Quinn’s body when they forced entry to his house shortly before 6.30pm on January 4, 2020. They were responding to information that he had been assaulted with baseball bats and had sustained head injuries and a broken arm.

The Ombudsman’s report details how Mr Quinn had been named in intelligence from an anonymous source, which had been received by police shortly after 11 pm on January 1, 2020. The intelligence referenced his name and home address and stated that he was to be shot dead at the property.

The Police Ombudsman, Marie Anderson, said her enquiries had established that Mr Quinn had not been informed about the threat as he had not been associated on police systems with the address provided in the intelligence.

Full details on the findings of the Ombudsman’s report can be found here.

The report also found that officers did not call at the address given in the threat message as it might cause unnecessary concern to anyone living there.

The PSNI have since issued an apology to the family for the shortcomings in the handling of the threat assessment.

Mr Quinn’s sister, Lesley Murphy, said the family were “shocked and disappointed” at the failures highlighted by the report. “After Glenn was murdered, we knew it would be an uphill struggle to get justice for him – but we never thought part of that fight would be against the police,” she added.

“Glenn had only moved to that address a few weeks before; all it would have taken was a knock at the door and that would have given him the opportunity to tell them that he needed help.

"It would have been the simplest thing, and it could have completely changed the outcome. If they were concerned [about alarming the occupant], all they had to do was confirm who lived at that address.”

However, the family have welcomed assurances from PSNI Chief Constable, Jon Boutcher, who met with them in Carrickfergus on Tuesday morning. “This report has been a distraction that we didn’t need; our focus is always 100 percent on getting justice for Glenn, but this left us as a family feeling neglected and unheard,” Lesley said.

“We had a very long and productive meeting with the Chief Constable, and we feel a bit more reassured. The ball is now in his court to make sure that the right people are held accountable. The police didn’t murder Glenn, but they didn’t help him, and that cannot be swept under the carpet. As far as we are concerned the focus is back where it should be: on finding Glenn’s killers.”

Earlier this month, detectives made a renewed appeal for information about Mr Quinn’s murder.

Falling on January 4, the fourth anniversary of his death, the appeal was backed by an increased reward of up to £40,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.