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.

Retired Canadian judge Peter Cory was asked by the British and Irish governments to produce reports on six of the most controversial killings of the Troubles. Two reports given to the Irish Government in October have since been published.

The four reports given to the British government remain secret although ministers insist they will be published eventually after it has considered the legal and security implications.

Judge Cory examined allegations of security force collusion over the murder of Mr Finucane at his north Belfast home in 1989, the killing of Catholic Robert Hamill in Portadown in 1997, the murder of LVF leader Billy Wright in the Maze Prison in 1997 and the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson in Lurgan in 1999.

In the absence of publication of the reports by the government, Judge Cory last week told the families he had recommended public inquiries be set up into the murders.

Mrs Finucane immediately lodged an application in the High Court for a judicial review on the Government’s failure to publish the report.

Acting for the Finucane family, Seamus Treacey argued the Secretary of State had breached a duty to publish the reports. He said Judge Cory’s call for a public inquiry could “come as a surprise for very few”.