A PSNI officer disciplined after a teenager was left at the side of a road by police and later knocked down and killed has been promoted twice since her death.
Shannon McQuillan (19), from Dunloy, died after she was struck by a van on the Moneynick Road, near Toome in Co Antrim, in January 2018, a short time after leaving the back of an ambulance which was taking her to hospital.
Her boyfriend Owen McFerran (21), from Ballymoney, was left fighting for his life after the accident, which took place in the early hours on the old main Derry to Belfast road.
He has been left with life-changing injuries.
From L-R Paul (Father), Collette (Mother) and Charlene (Sister) of Shannon McQuillan.
PICTURE COLM LENAGHAN
Speaking for the first time about her daughter’s death, Shannon’s mother Collette McQuillan said she is “devastated” that one of the police officers involved has been repeatedly promoted.
The accident occurred a short time after the couple left the back of an ambulance that was taking her to hospital following a fall, which resulted in a head injury, near a nightclub in Magherafelt, Co Derry.
On Tuesday, the Police Ombudsman concluded that PSNI officers breached a duty of care to a teenager after she and her boyfriend were left at a bus stop by officers and Ambulance Service staff.
In a report published this week, the Police Ombudsman concluded that there was “multiple breaches in the duty of care offered to Ms McQuillan and Mr McFerran by police officers”.
It has now emerged that one of the officers who gave evidence at an inquest into the teenager’s death in June last year has been promoted twice since the deadly accident.
The officer held the rank of sergeant at the time and was a supervisor to two other officers involved.
Around two weeks later, July 5, a coroner found Ms McQuillan’s death was a “tragic accident”.
Less than a week after the inquest ruling the PSNI issued a press release in the name of the same police officer, which listed his rank as “inspector”.
Just last month, another media release issued by the PSNI gave the officer’s rank as “chief inspector”.
He is currently listed on a PSNI website as a “temporary chief inspector”.
While it is not known when the officer was promoted, it appears that he has risen through the ranks before the Police Ombudsman’s investigation was completed and after being disciplined by the PSNI.
Details of the ombudsman probe were provided to the McQuillan and McFerran families earlier this week.
The report focused on three police officers, A, B and C, who attended the ambulance before the young couple were left at the roadside.
In 2022 the recently promoted officer faced five charges at a PSNI Professional Standards Department (PSD) misconduct hearing.
The PSD panel later found he “had breached the PSNI Code of Ethics…and this amounted to gross misconduct”.
He later received a written warning.
Collette McQuillan with her daughter Charlene.
PICTURE COLM LENAGHAN
Collette McQuillan said: “I am devastated that (the police officer) got promoted and is getting on with his life when he had the power that night to save Shannon.
“If he had done his job properly Shannon would be sitting with me today.”
Ms McQuillan’s father Paul McQuillan spoke of his surprise at the officer’s double promotion.
“I am astonished at the accelerated promotion from a sergeant to a chief inspector, which has taken place with this officer from his disciplinary hearing in December 2022,” he said.
“He was the senior police officer on the scene that night and, therefore, was instrumental in making the decision and putting Shannon out of the ambulance.
“Over two and a half years later he becomes a chief inspector despite his spectacular failings and breach of duty of care towards Shannon.”
Police Officer A also faced a PSD panel on three charges including “that she behaved in a way that was likely to bring discredit to the PSNI”.
The panel found that Police Officer A had breached the code of ethics and this amounted to gross misconduct.
She was dismissed from the PSNI “with notice”.
She later appealed the sanctions on six grounds and in January last year one of the grounds was upheld “in relation to a breach of procedure”.
The tribunal found that the matter should be reheard by a fresh panel.
That hearing was due to take place in June last year but was adjourned “as Police Officer A was in poor health”.
In December the PSD “decided to stay proceedings based on medical evidence”.
Police Officer A died in May.
Ombudsman investigators concluded that Police Officer B had also breached the code of ethics by “failing to submit and retain her original signed duty statement”.
The officer was “given advice intended to improve her conduct in respect of this matter”.
The ombudsman has confirmed that Constable B made no comment through a “criminal interview” carried out by investigators.
Another officer, Police Officer I was also found to have breached the code after she made “amendments to the original signed statement of Police Officer B days after the accident “and failed to ensure that Officer B retained her original statement”
Police Officer I was also given advice “intended to improve her conduct”.
In 2019 the Police Ombudsman submitted a file to the Public Prosecution Service relating to Officers A,B and C and the potential offences of gross negligence manslaughter or misconduct in public office, but a no prosecution decision was reached and later upheld on review.
The ombudsman has found that there was “multiple breaches in the duty of care offered to Ms McQuillan and Mr McFerran by police officers”.
These included a failure to “complete even the most basic checks in relation to them; recognise the vulnerability and risks of leaving the two alone together beside a road, and safeguard the couple’s welfare”.
In its report the ombudsman said that one of the two ambulance staff members told “investigators that it had been the police who asked the couple to leave the ambulance and call a family member for a lift while the other said he had told police that Ms McQuillan had tried to harm herself”.
During last year’s inquest hearing coroner Joe McCrisken said he was “completely satisfied” that Ms McQuillan and Mr McFerran wanted to leave the ambulance and did so “of their own free will”.
“They were not removed by any police officer,” he added.
The ombudsman has now concluded that communication between the PSNI officers Ambulance Service staff had been “wholly inadequate”.
The PSNI is now developing a new protocol to deal with drunk people who refuse medical treatment after a recommendation from the Police Ombudsman.
When asked about the police officer’s promotions the PSNI did not respond directly.
Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally said: “We accept that more could and should have been done by police to prevent the circumstances that preceded Shannon’s death and Owen’s injuries.
“For that we are truly sorry.”
Solicitor Barry O’Donnell, of KRW Law said: “The Family of Shannon take some ‘relief’ from the new protocol now being developed by the PSNI in conjunction with other front-line agencies.
“Titled, ‘Right Care, Right Person’, which will ensure a more robust joined up interaction between the frontline agencies when dealing with similar circumstances that Shannon presented with on the January 20 2018.”