Pressure grows for inquiry into Finucane murder

The British government was under fresh pressure tonight to hold a public inquiry soon into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

A US State Department official intensified pressure on the British government after he said Washington was concerned about plans to delay an inquiry into Mr Finucane’s murder until all criminal prosecutions had been completed.

Mr Finucane was hit 14 times when the Ulster Freedom Fighters shot him in front of his family during an evening meal in his north Belfast home in February 1989.

His family, nationalist politicians and human rights activists believe he was a victim of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries, members of British Army intelligence and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Echoing comments from Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen, the State Department official was concerned the continuing criminal investigation into Mr Finucane’s murder would “further delay the start of a full public inquiry.”

The official said it was his department’s view that prosecutions should be conducted as “quickly as possible”.

And referring to comments by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory, whose report on the 1989 murder was released last Thursday, he said there were “tensions between two bedrock principles in society – the need for society to seek justice and the need to get to the broad truth.”

The State Department official welcomed the release of Judge Cory’s report into the Finucane case and other controversial murders.

He also noted the British government’s pledge to fulfil its commitments in relation to inquiries.

Last April, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens, who has conducted the investigation into Mr Finucane’s killing, claimed the deaths of the Belfast solicitor and Protestant student, Adam Lambert could have been prevented were it not for collusion.

In his report, Judge Cory also believed there were questions to answer.

The judge acknowledged criminal prosecutions could delay an inquiry for two years.

But he added: “This may be one of those rare situations where a public inquiry will be of greater benefit to a community than prosecutions.”

After the release of the report, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy announced inquiries would go ahead into the killings of Lurgan human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson, Portadown Catholic father of two Robert Hamill and loyalist terror boss, Billy Wright.

However he said once criminal proceedings in the Finucane case had been completed, the British government would “set out the way ahead”.

The Finucane family, nationalists and human rights activists have questioned whether the British government will ever hold an inquiry into the shooting.

However NIO sources have pointed to an answer Mr Murphy gave to SDLP MP Eddie McGrady on Thursday, which repeated the Government’s pledge after the Weston Park 2001 talks to implement Judge Cory’s recommendations.

Soldiers accused of collusion have also called for an immediate public inquiry to help them clear their names.

It emerged today that loyalist Ken Barrett, who is awaiting trial in September for Mr Finucane’s murder, was moved from Maghaberry Jail in Co Antrim to an English prison on the day Judge Cory’s report was released.

Mr Barrett, who was arrested by the Stevens team last May in Sussex, has denied murdering the solicitor and all other charges.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said the fact that the transfer occurred on the same day as the Cory Report was published was coincidental.

“Mr Barrett applied last October for a transfer to an English prison for family reasons,” he said.

“The application was processed as a matter of routine.

“It was purely coincidental that the date of the transfer coincided with the publication of the Cory Report.”

Last September during an unsuccessful bail application, Mr Barrett’s lawyers voiced fears that their client’s life could be in danger if he remained in Maghaberry Prison.

Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly said the decision to transfer Ken Barrett gave rise to “real concerns that this move is part of the wider conspiracy which saw Pat Finucane murdered and the truth around his death covered up for so long.”