Northern Ireland's new police chief, Hugh Orde, has issued a scathing assessment of his new force.

He claimed the re-named Northern Ireland Police service lacks a proper system for investigating murders and that its performance indicators are "in free-fall".

In an interview with today's Guardian, Orde said: "I won't be the fall guy for the political big picture. My focus is on policing.

"If I take my eye off the ball, I won't be delivering what the government or anyone else wants."