Britain ‘in bid to halt Finucane inquiry’

THE British Government tried to pressurise its top police officer in a bid to halt a public inquiry into the assassination of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, a court heard yesterday.

Scotland Yard chief John Stevens was allegedly urged to declare his probe into the controversial killing could lead to a clutch of prosecutions which would block any such tribunal, the Northern Ireland High Court was told.

Even though retired Canadian Judge Peter Cory found enough evidence of security force collusion to call for a hearing into the February 1989 Finucane murder, Secretary of State Paul Murphy has so far resisted the growing demands.