Stormout: scene of police raids

Northern Ireland's most senior police officer has formally apologised for the way police raided Sinn Fein's offices in the Stormont assembly last week.

Speaking as tensions continued to rise in Belfast, Sir Hugh Orde said the raids were essential but apologised for the manner in which they were conducted.

Sir Hugh said he had apologised to Stormont speaker, Lord Alderdice, following what many saw as a heavy-handed police operation last Friday.

Speaking to the press in Belfast, he said the raids had been undermined by "errors of judgement".

"I've looked at the film, and I think we could have done the raid itself in a more sensitive and appropriate style," he said.

"But I would make the point that the need to search that office was clear in my mind as an investigator."

Sir Hugh said that the police had not intended to conduct the raids in the full glare of the media.

"There was no pre-planning in terms of the issues around Stormont. At the time of the arrests the plan was not to carry out other searches. These investigations run and you cannot plan for every event," he said.

"But in this case if we had just stepped back for just a few minutes and thought through the second series of searches we would have done them differently."

Despite apologising for the way the searches were conducted, Sir Hugh refused to apologise for carrying them out in the first place.

"The search was very necessary," said Sir Hugh. "But we could have done it differently."

He also denied suggestions that the police had tipped off the media about the raids on Sinn Fein offices.

"The press were there for something completely different. No press or any other media were arranged or organised by anyone from the Police Service of Northern Ireland," he said.

A Sinn Fein official was arrested and documents seized during a series of raids in Belfast on Friday.