Victims of the Loughinisland massacre are to receive damages as part of a settlement reached in their legal action against the Police Ombudsman's Office.

The ombudsman issued an apology to those bereaved and injured for "failings" in its first report into the sectarian murder of six Catholic men in June 1994.

Proceedings centred on former ombudsman Al Hutchinson's conclusions that there was insufficient evidence of collusion between RUC officers and the loyalist paramilitary killers.

Relatives of the victims sued over the hurt and upset caused by the findings he reached in 2011.

Their civil action was settled at the High Court in Belfast, with confirmation that undisclosed damages are to be paid out.

Afterwards, a spokesman for the ombudsman said: "The office apologises to victims and their families for its failings at that time."

UVF gunmen carried out the massacre at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down as customers watched a World Cup football match between the Republic of Ireland and Italy.

The men killed were: Adrian Rogan, 34, Malcolm Jenkinson, 53, Barney Green, 87, Daniel McCreanor 59, Patrick O'Hare, 35, and Eamon Byrne, 39.

Five others were wounded in the attack.



