A report on the 1988 murder of Charles McGrillen launched on May 6, his 65th birthday. The 26-year-old Catholic from South Belfast died from gunshot wounds on March 15, 1988, as he arrived for work at Dunnes Stores on Annadale Embankment.

McGrillen worked as a forklift driver. He married Catherine Clinton in 1983. Their daughter Charlene was born in 1985. The Ulster Defence Association claimed responsibility for the killing.

The report from Relatives for Justice examines intelligence handling and state agents in loyalist groups at the time. Suspicions linked UDA members Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder to the murder. Both died in 1994.

A 2022 Police Ombudsman report on Operation Achille found investigative and intelligence failures by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in South Belfast loyalist cases from 1990 to 1998. RUC Special Branch had eight agents in South Belfast UDA, linked to 27 murders.

McGrillen's family faced threats and grave attacks after his death. No prosecutions followed the murder.

Irati Oleaga of Relatives for Justice stated the family pursued truth despite frustrations, including a Police Ombudsman case halted by the Legacy Act. The Act created the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, which families view as lacking credibility. Courts upheld this position.

Oleaga noted families document truths themselves amid delays in human rights-compliant investigations. Relatives for Justice supports McGrillen's wife Catherine Gormley and daughter Charlene Smyth.