British must justify silence over Finucane, judge rules

THE British Government will have to justify its failure to publish a report into the controversial murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in the Northern Ireland High Court, a judge ruled yesterday.

He granted an application by Mr Finucane’s widow Geraldine for the holding of a judicial review into the failure of Northern Ireland secretary Paul Murphy to publish the Cory Report into the killing which he received last October.

The hearing is due to take place in Belfast on March 1.