Finucane family presses for full inquiry

The widow and family of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane are to meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern today to raise concerns over the format of an inquiry into the killing.

The family and Mr Justice Peter Cory, the retired Canadian supreme court judge who recommended holding an inquiry into the brutal 1989 UDA murder, have all rejected its terms under the Inquiries Act 2005.

The new laws allow for sections of the probe to be heard in private.

The Finucanes have insisted they will not co-operate unless all evidence is heard in public. They believe the restrictions would hinder the independence of the inquiry, damaging both its effectiveness and openness.

But the British government has so far resisted pressure to have a completely public probe, raising questions over its ability to fulfil its remit to establish whether there was official British collusion in Mr Finucane’s murder.

Geraldine Finucane has also written to senior British judges asking them not to work with any inquiry operating under the new legal framework.

Human rights group Amnesty International launched an internet campaign to persuade senior British judicial figures not to work with the planned inquiry.