Government backs calls for Finucane public probe

THE Government supported demands last night for an independent public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane after an investigation found collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces.

The challenge to British Prime Minister Tony Blair by the Belfast solicitor’s family to honour a pledge to hold a public inquiry was backed by Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen.

Rogue elements within the police and army in Northern Ireland helped loyalist paramilitaries to murder Catholics in the late 1980s, the report by Britain’s most senior police officer concluded.