The Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman has confirmed she will go ahead with plans to present her report on police actions before and after the Omagh bombing on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Ms Nuala O'Loan confirmed she would meet the relatives of the victims of the 1998 bombing on Wednesday and present them with the findings and recommendations of her report. These would also be made public later in the day. The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, failed to respond to Ms O'Loan's draft report by her deadline of last Friday.
A police spokesman said yesterday it was unlikely he would respond to the report before Wednesday as it contained "so many inaccuracies". It is also understood Sir Ronnie did not respond to an offer made by Ms O'Loan on Friday whereby if he outlined the deficiencies in her report as he saw them she would consider putting back the time of its release.
In the wake of the leak of parts of the Ombudsman's report, it emerged that the senior police officer in Omagh, Supt James Baxter, had offered to leave his post if the families of the Omagh victims asked him to do so.
Supt Baxter, the commander of the Omagh District Command Unit, made the offer at a meeting with the relatives on Friday, but it was rejected.
In a statement, Mr Baxter said: "I told the families that, if they have any lack of confidence in me as police commander for the area, I will ask the Chief Constable to move me."
Mr Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, was killed in the bombing, said not a single voice had been raised against Mr Baxter at the meeting. Mr Gallagher said: "Certainly no one said they wanted him to resign. In fact many of us said we were happy with him and that was not what we wanted.
"I think it is important that people know that. We are certainly not attacking the police. The police on the ground in Omagh worked to the best of their ability on that day." As arguments over who leaked the report continued, a former chairman of the now-defunct Police Authority called for the resignation of the chairman of the Police Federation after he had called for Ms O'Loan to consider her position.
Mr David Cook said Mr Jimmy Spratt, whose body represents rank-and-file police officers, was wrong to have criticised the Ombudsman without having read her report. Mr Spratt later said he was merely reflecting his members' concerns and had no intention of resigning.
The Northern Secretary meanwhile warned of the danger of an attack by dissident republicans over the Christmas period.
"We should always bear in mind who the guilty parties here are - the 'Real IRA', their callousness, their preparedness to murder and cause mayhem," Dr John Reid said.
"I think we would all be as well to be vigilant in the run-up to Christmas," Dr Reid said.