Police still quizzing man arrested over Finucane murder

Police in Northern Ireland are continuing to question a 40-year-old man who was arrested in Britain yesterday in connection with the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

The man is believed to be a leading loyalist who told an undercover BBC reporter last year that British military intelligence helped loyalist paramilitaries target Catholics in the 1980s, including Mr Finucane.

He also claimed that an RUC Special Branch officer encouraged loyalists to murder Mr Finucane.

The man, who has been in hiding for a number of years, was arrested in Sussex yesterday along with a 45-year-old woman who was later released without charge.

The arrests were carried out by the Stevens Inquiry established to investigate Mr Finucane's murder.

In its latest report, the inquiry team said it had uncovered evidence that the British Army's shadowy Force Research Institute and RUC Special Branch were complicit in the Finucane killing and other murders in the late 1980s.