THE family of a 27 year old Strabane man have said they are angry that it has taken over four years for the PSNI to accept responsibility for their son's death.

Ciaran Connolly died on St Patrick's Day of 2003 when he was trapped and crushed at the gates of Strabane PSNI station.

His parents Eddie and Celia have said they are angry that it has taken four years and two months for the PSNI to take responsibility.

At Omagh Crown Court on Friday, an officer representing Chief Constable Hugh Orde entered a guilty plea to a charge of failing to protect the safety of visitors to the police station following the death of 27-year-old Ciaran Connolly, from Castlegrange, on March 17 2003.

The deceased died from upper body and head injuries after being struck by fortified electrical gates at the station.

A second charge accusing the chief constable's office of failing to ensure the safety of its own police officers was allowed to "lie on the file", not to be proceeded with without leave of the Crown Court or the Court of Appeal.

Before the guilty plea was entered by the senior officer at Omagh Crown Court, Mr Justice Hart asked if he was "authorised" to make the plea on behalf of the chief constable's office.

A defence solicitor said that Hugh Orde had given the authorisation on Thursday "in my presence."

A prosecuting solicitor said it was his instructions that given the admission the court should allow the second count to "lie on the files".Sentence will be passed on the Office of the Chief Constable next month.

The charges were brought by the Health and Safety Executive in February.

In 2005, findings of a report published by the Police Ombudsman cleared individual officers on duty that night but found that the gates were faulty.