AN inquest into the death of a Belcoo schoolboy tragically killed when he was struck by a passing car on a country road has been adjourned after his family raised “quite serious concerns” over how police conducted their investigation into the fatal collision.

Seven-year-old Ryan McGovern was hit by the vehicle as he crossed over the Lattone Road, between Garrison and Belcoo, on December 20, 2015.

He was taken to the South West Acute Hospital for treatment, but died later that afternoon.

The inquest into the young boy’s death opened at Omagh courthouse yesterday (Wednesday) morning, with evidence being heard from the investigating officer in the case, who was attached to the PSNI’s Collision Investigation Unit at Maydown, Londonderry.

However, as this officer was being cross-examined by Adrian O’Kane, the solicitor acting on behalf of the McGoverns, it emerged that Ryan’s family had “quite serious concerns” about how the collision had been investigated.

Claiming that the officer’s evidence to the inquest had been “quite unsatisfactory” and “misleading”, Mr. O’Kane asked for the inquest to be adjourned to allow for a “thorough” police investigation to be carried out.

While she said she was not prejudging the matter, Coroner Suzanne Anderson granted the application to adjourn until the family’s concerns were thoroughly investigated.

The officer in question, who was the only witness to give evidence yesterday, had earlier outlined the circumstances of the collision.

He told the inquest that, just prior to the incident, Ryan had been helping his father and brother tend to sheep in a field adjoining the road.

After coming out of the field, his father began speaking to another gentleman on the grass verge of the Garrison-bound lane of the Lattone Road.

At some stage, Ryan had crossed over to the opposite side of the road and it was when he was subsequently going to return that he was struck by the car going towards Belcoo.

The PSNI constable told the inquest that the Peugeot 2008 involved had been driven by a local woman, Mrs. Mary Maguire, with her son as a front-seat passenger. Both were later interviewed by the police.

The officer revealed that he had not been present at the interviews, but provided a summary when asked to do so by the Coroner.

He told the inquest that Mrs. Maguire said she became aware of two vehicles parked on the opposite side of the road and had “slowed down”.
The constable said the next thing she was aware of was that Ryan was in front of her and she had stopped as soon as she could.

When asked by the Coroner about what speed Mrs. Maguire had been travelling at, the police officer stated: “I believe she said she was travelling between 30 and 40mph at the time of the collision.”

During the cross-examination of the witness by the family’s solicitor, Mr. O’Kane asked who had conducted the interviews if the constable had not been present.

He explained that the interviews had been tape-recorded and video-recorded by officers who were specially trained in the use of that equipment.

When questioned why interviews in the case of a fatal accident involving a seven-year-old boy were being conducted by officers trained in the use of video equipment and not by officers trained to deal with road traffic collisions, the constable insisted that they “would still have asked all the pertinent questions”.

Focusing on the summary of the interview given to the inquest by the investigating officer, Mr. O’Kane asked where in the lengthy transcript did Mrs. Maguire say she had “slowed down” prior to hitting Ryan.

After reading over the transcripts, the constable conceded that she didn’t actually say she had slowed down.

Admitting that there was “no reference” to her slowing down in the transcript, he further told the inquest he had “mistakenly put that in” as he was aware of other evidence in the case.

The solicitor also questioned whether Mrs. Maguire had told police that she had been travelling at between 30 to 40mph.

Again, the constable was forced to admit that this estimation of her speed had been taken from evidence he had subsequently received and not from the interview.

Reading from the transcript, the officer told the inquest that Mrs. Maguire had admitted to driving at around 50mph.

At this point in proceedings, Mr O’Kane revealed that the McGovern family had “quite serious concerns” about how the fatal road traffic collision had been investigated.

The solicitor then inquired whether a report had been furnished to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) at the end of the police investigation.

The constable replied that the PSNI decided to make a recommendation of “no prosecution” to the PPS.

He told the inquest that a file was submitted to the PPS and the PPS had directed that no further police action be taken.

Clarifying what he said, the police officer said he had submitted his file to his supervisor and it was “his understanding” that it had been sent to the PPS.

However, Mr. O’Kane said that the evidence the witness had given as investigating officer had been “quite unsatisfactory”.

Claiming that it was “misleading”, the solicitor said that he had been told by the Coroner’s Office that a file was not submitted to the PPS.

Mr. O’Kane said his concern was that the fatal collision had not been investigated correctly by the police.

“The constable’s evidence has compounded this,” he added.

The Coroner then allowed the police officer some time to contact his supervisor about what had happened with the file.

When the hearing resumed, the constable confirmed that a file had not been submitted to the PPS.

He told the inquest that there had been no suspect in the case, as Mary Maguire had been treated as a witness all along.

The officer explained that a file had not been sent because there was no suspect linked in the case.