Reports into sectarian murders to be published

Two reports probing allegations of collusion between security forces and sectarian murders are to be published tomorrow, it was confirmed tonight.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the reports received by the Government from Canadian Judge Peter Cory would be made public following a statement by Minister Michael McDowell in the Dáil.

The Government received two reports and the British government received four following Judge Cory’s investigation of eight murders involving allegations of state collusion in six controversial cases during the Northern Ireland Troubles.

But only the two reports received by the authorities in Dublin into the deaths of Lord Justice and Lady Gibson in 1987 and two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in 1989 are to be published tomorrow.

Sources have indicated that Judge Cory found rogue members of the gardaí may have provided information to the IRA killers of RUC Superintendent Bob Buchanan and Inspector Harry Breen as they returned north from a meeting with garda officers in Dundalk.

Lord Justice Maurice and Lady Cecily Gibson were killed by an IRA remote-controlled car bomb as they drove over the Irish border back into Northern Ireland after a holiday in April 1987.

The contents of the six reports, submitted to both Governments in October, were originally expected to be published simultaneously.

However, the Irish authorities pressed ahead with publication after the British government claimed it was still considering the legal and security implications of publishing the judge’s findings.

Relatives of some of the murdered have pressed for early publication of the reports and have accused the British government of employing stalling tactics.

But Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy has insisted he is determined the truth will emerge and that he will undertake to publish the reports as soon as possible.

He said he was aware of the families’ concerns and had written to them to keep them up to date.

The guidelines given to both governments by Judge Cory allowed them to make alterations to the reports only to ensure that individuals’ privacy was protected and state security maintained.

The four cases that Judge Cory investigated north of the Irish border were the 1989 Ulster Defence Association murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, the beating to death by loyalists of Catholic man Robert Hamill in Portadown in 1997, the Irish National Liberation Army murder of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright in 1997 and the LVF murder of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson in 1999.

Both London and Dublin have committed themselves to implementing Judge Cory’s recommendations.

Judge Cory’s appointment fulfilled a commitment made by the two governments following talks with the pro-agreement parties at Weston Park, Staffordshire in the summer of 2001.