Finucane probe to confirm 'shocking' levels of collusion

A new report into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane published today was expected to confirm shocking levels of police Special Branch collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

The report, carried out by Metropolitan Commissioner John Stevens, is almost certain to intensify international pressure for a full judicial inquiry into the killing.

Mr Stevens will also point an accusing finger at British military intelligence when he delivers a devastating account of the scale of co-operation which once existed between sectarian killers and state agencies.

With Alasdair Fraser, the Director of Public Prosecutions, considering files against up to 20 police and army personnel who are believed to have been implicated by the three year investigation, only part of the report is to be published.

But it will be damning in several keys areas, heightening pressure on Tony Blair to call an inquiry into all aspects of the Finucane killing.

The Finucane family said they expected the report to be nothing more than a whitewash.

Michael Finucane, the solicitor’s son, who is also a lawyer, declared: “The report is an embodiment of broken promises and dishonoured commitments. It carries the hallmark of all Stevens’ work in Northern Ireland: ‘Secrecy and repression’.”

The lawyer’s family have refused to back the Stevens’ inquiry, his third.

Mr Finucane said the investigation was worthless because he claimed the intelligence system worked exactly as it was designed to.

He added: “Nothing went wrong. In the British government’s eyes the system worked perfectly.

“The policy in Northern Ireland was – and may yet be – to harness the killing potential of loyalist paramilitaries, to increase that potential through additional resources in the shape of weapons and information and to direct those resources against selected targets so that the government could be rid of its enemies.

“Simple policy. Simple operation. Simply chilling.”

Human rights campaigners have denounced plans to release just a section of the 3,000 page document, which took four years to compile at a cost of £4m (€5.8m).

Leading organisations including Amnesty International, British Irish Rights Watch and the Committee on the Administration of Justice have also urged the authorities to begin a judicial hearing.

“Continuing to delay such an inquiry may well result in other key testimonies eventually avoiding public scrutiny,” they said in a joint statement.

The full document will be handed over to Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde, who ran the Stevens’ inquiry before taking charge of the new force.

Mr Stevens' detectives have interviewed 15,000 people, catalogued 4,000 exhibits, taken more than 5,500 statements and seized 6,000 documents in the past 14 years.

But he only plans to publish an overview of his new findings, including recommendations on police and Army accountability.

Even calls for major restructuring of the security services would be dismissed by the Finucane family and others campaigning for a judicial inquiry.

Pat Finucane, 38, was shot dead at his north Belfast home in February 1989 by a gunman belonging to the Ulster Defence Association who was also working as a Special Branch informant at the time.

The man who supplied one of the weapons tipped off British military intelligence that a killing was to be carried out, but nothing was done to prevent it.

He was later charged with the murder, but gunned down by former associates who wanted him silenced.

The UDA said Mr Finucane had been shot because he was a senior IRA officer, but Sir John in his report will again emphatically reject claims that he had terrorist links.

Even though several members of his family have strong republican links and the murder victim had represented many suspected Provisionals, he also acted for loyalists.

But the collusion inquiry has extended far beyond the solicitor’s murder.

“This is the most extensive inquiry of its nature ever undertaken in the world,” Mr Stevens said. “I do not intend to leave any stone unturned.”