As the fall-out from the Lawrence enquiry continues, a murder trial has just ended in a case barely known in this country. Judgement was reserved and the victim's family are not optimistic of a conviction. One man stood trial, although many people were involved. Charges against five other suspects were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, and this is not the only parallel with the Lawrence case. No forensic investigation was carried out immediately after the murder and no arrests were made until days later. No first aid was administered by police officers on the scene, officers who have serious questions to answer about their conduct.

The provocation for the killing was that the victim was trying to get home at night and that his background was different from that of his assailants. His name was Robert Hamill, and he was a Catholic in Portadown

This Armagh town is famous enough for the Drumcree stand-off . But few people in Britain have yet heard the name of Robert Hamill. Catholics in Portadown hear it frequently. Loyalists have used it as a taunt since Robert was kicked to death two years ago. They also like to do a dance which involves a mime of kicking and stamping. This happened on August 5th, when Orangemen marched to church. And it happens at Loyalist "protests", which have entailed driving Catholics out of the town centre and penning them into their estates.

In the small hours of April 28th, 1997, Robert Hamill and his friend Gregory Girvan were heading home from a dance at St Patrick's Hall, a Catholic social club that stands in isolation in Portadown town centre. With them were Gregory's wife, Joanne, and her sister, Siobhan, who are Robert's cousins. From the direction in which they were headed, it would have been apparent that they were Catholics, although their attackers were strangers.

They could see a number of young Protestant drinkers whom they would have to pass, but seeing an RUC Land Rover parked up, thought it would be safe enough to walk the short distance to home territory. As they attempted to walk past, they were set-upon by a gang of twenty or so, who beat the two men the ground and savagely kicked them, jumping up and down on Robert's head. Both were unconscious. Robert never woke up.

According to Siobhan, Joanne and other witnesses, while this was happening, four RUC officers sat in the Land Rover and watched. They didn't get out before an ambulance arrived, even to administer first-aid when the kicking had stopped.

No arrests were made. No notes were taken from witnesses. A crime scene was not declared. The attack happened at about 1.30am. The officers went off-duty at 4am without making statements. At 6am, an RUC press release reported "a clash between rival factions". Three days later, a press release said that the officers "were alerted to a disturbance and immediately intervened to regain order and prevent assaults", but that they could not contain the situation because of the numbers involved. In a similar situation, London police officers might be able to offer the excuse that they were outnumbered. But London policemen do not usually drive armoured Land Rovers, wear body armour or carry pistols and machine guns.

As to the RUC having been "alerted to a disturbance", the four officers were there before the incident and it happened in full view of them. Moreover, they now admit that a man leaving St Patrick's Hall shortly before Robert and the others had spoken to them. This man got past the swelling group of Protestant youths but was concerned that other people at the dance still had to get past them. He asked the RUC to keep an eye out to make sure people got by safely. But they appear to have done nothing, before, during or after the attack that left Robert Hamill with fatal brain injuries.

It was not until Robert's death after twelve days in a coma, that the RUC conceded that there had been an unprovoked sectarian attack on four people and that early press releases were misleading. But they have now reverted to their original line that the officers were powerless to intervene in a huge gang fight. No other witnesses support this account.

Although Robert was comatose, his death was not peaceful. Diane says: "He never regained full consciousness, but it was obvious from his struggle that he was in constant pain and somehow aware that he was trapped in his injured body but unable to break out." He left a girlfriend, Caroline Maguire, and their two young sons, Shane and Ryan.

After Robert's death, six men were arrested. At their own request, they were placed in the LVF wing of the Maze prison. The LVF acclaimed them as the "Portadown Six" and produced leaflets to support them.

By November 1997, charges against five of them had been dropped. The Director of Public prosecutions said that the evidence was "insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of obtaining a conviction for murder". But an eye-witness had directly approached the DPP to complain that he had seen one of the accused attack Robert, but that no identity parade had been held. This witness also says that he saw the man concerned sitting in the RUC Land Rover after the attack on Robert, and that the officers appeared to be joking with him. Officers admit putting a man in the Land Rover and letting him go shortly afterwards.

The Portadown RUC have been stung by criticism since Robert's murder. Diane Hamill complains of harassment from them. "On occasions shortly after the attack, the RUC would beep their horns at members of the family. A Land Rover was driven so close to one of my brothers that it hit his ankle. Another time, a car with three RUC officers inside swerved in front of me and I had to brake to avoid a collision."

Local Loyalists have also compounded the family's grief as much as possible. Acccording to Diane, "I have called the RUC to remove a man who was shouting at my mother and myself outside our home. He was shouting, 'What about Robert?' and pretending to hold someone by the hair and kick their face. The RUC didn't even ask him to go home."

In addition to abusing relatives in person, Loyalists have torn down every wreath placed at the murder scene. In desperation, the family padlocked a wreath to a lamppost. In the morning, only the padlock remained. During last year's Drumcree stand-off, when Loyalists blockaded residents into the Garvaghy Road, Robert's father, Dessie, stood in the street and wept, prevented from going to mass, as he had done every day since Robert's death. Among the jeering mob were some of the men who had been arrested for the murder.

The trial of the one remaining defendant, Paul Hobson, ended last week. The family are not optimistic that there will be a conviction. The lack of action after the killing means that any forensic evidence disappeared. Constable Alan Neill, one of the officers in the Land Rover, testified that he saw the defendant aim a kick but couldn't say whether it connected.

Whatever the outcome of Hobson's trial, the real search for justice can only begin after it is out of the way. The family has asked Michael Mansfield QC for help in a possible private prosecution, and he has agreed. These are not vengeful people. What they want is a recognition that they have suffered a terrible wrong. Diane Hamill told me: "Everyone's talking about peace. But you won't get peace in Northern Ireland without justice, and you can't have justice without truth. And we won't even begin to get near the truth until there is a public enquiry into Robert's death."
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