Performance measures for two officers
The investigation examined the arrests of Sue Pentel, 72, and Martine McCullough, who is in her 50s, on suspicion of criminal damage involving stickers on an ATM outside Barclays on Castle Place. Belfast Live, reporting the Ombudsman's account, said the stickers had been placed on the machine's keys and card slot.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) accepted performance-improvement measures for a custody officer and one arresting officer. The custody officer had entered identical information for the two arrests despite differences in their circumstances. He acknowledged negligence but denied any ill intent.
The arresting officer subject to performance measures had not acted when CCTV operators identified another suspect to him. The PSNI decided that the other arresting officer required no further action; he said he had not known that the arrested women were different from those originally reported to police.
Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said investigators had found neither unlawful conduct nor misconduct by officers. "There was, however, some shortcomings in aspects of the police response and in the recording of information," he said. He also said the PSNI would ensure lessons were learned to support its officers and staff.
How the investigation began
No one submitted a complaint about the incident to the Ombudsman's office, according to Belfast Live. Instead, Chief Executive Hugh Hume determined that an independent investigation was needed because some officers' actions might amount to misconduct.
Separately, a Rights & Security International report published in November 2025 recorded 57 complaints to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland concerning protest policing between May 2022 and April 2025.
The arrests and subsequent interviews
Pentel and McCullough were detained while protesting outside the Barclays branch on May 24, 2025. The Irish News and The Standard reported that the arrests concerned an incident at an earlier protest at the same bank on April 26.
Both women were released that evening after about nine hours, pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service, according to Belfast Media's Andersonstown News. At the time, the PSNI described its officers' actions as "lawful and proportionate".
Pentel disputed the criminal damage allegation, saying the ATM was still working when she left. She described the demonstration as peaceful and said campaigners felt they were "being criminalised".
The women later attended a scheduled interview under caution at Belfast's Musgrave Street police station on June 25, 2025, The Standard and The Irish News reported. Their solicitor, Pádraig Ó Muirigh, said they "robustly deny" committing any criminal offense and would defend their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights if prosecutors decided to bring a case.
Protests outside Barclays
Campaigners had been demonstrating weekly outside the Belfast branch for months. Belfast Media reported that Pentel belongs to both the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Jews for Palestine-Ireland.
In response to criticism of its ties to defense companies, Barclays has said it supplies financial services to nine companies that supply Israel, but does not invest directly in those firms, according to The Irish News and The Standard. The Irish News also reported that the bank considers itself the target of a disinformation campaign over those relationships.
