Arlene Arkinson inquest postponed again

A long-delayed inquest into the disappearance of County Tyrone teenager Arlene Arkinson has been postponed again until November.

Police admitted they would not meet a 10 July deadline to disclose files to the court.

Coroner Brian Sherrard said he knew the development would cause "regret and distress" to her family.

He questioned whether the police was diverting sufficient resources to the task.

The process of security vetting 70 case files has been further complicated by the prospect of the PSNI applying for Public Interest Immunity (PII) on three of the files, which would prevent their contents being made public

Fifteen-year-old Arlene, from Castlederg, County Tyrone, went missing in August 1994 after a night out at a disco in Bundoran, County Donegal.

Her body has never been found.

The inquest had been due to run at the start of September, almost eight years after the first preliminary hearing was held.

However, this was dependent on the PSNI completing disclosure of the case files by 10 July.

A barrister for the PSNI told the preliminary hearing: "They will be really pushed to have this done by the end of September."

The coroner said it was with regret that he had to re-list the case for 2 November, and issued the PSNI with a new disclosure date of the end of August.

He asked the barrister: "Is there anything that can be done from a resources perspective that can speed this up?"

The barrister replied: "I just don't see it happening unless someone else comes in to give assistance to those working on it. And resources, I'm told, are not available."

Confirming that the start date would have to be moved back, Mr Sherrard said: "This is a matter of some regret to me and I know it will be a matter of some regret and distress to everyone concerned, in particular to the family of Miss Arkinson.

"Nevertheless we have to be realistic and pragmatic."