Ex-Tory minister heckled at Coroner's Court

Former Tory Minister Douglas Hogg was heckled in a courtroom today by protesters demanding a full inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

He ignored demands to explain his controversial assessment weeks before the shooting that linked some lawyers in Northern Ireland to the IRA.

Mr Finucane’s son John said he was appalled that Mr Hogg had turned up in Belfast to represent the widow of a soldier at a coroner’s court appearance.

“He has treated my family with complete disdain and never offered an apology,” he said.

“My father was an officer of court in this jurisdiction and I find it galling that Mr Hogg was over here practising.”

Supporters raised placards with pictures of the solicitor during the brief protest.

Members of the campaign group AnFhirinne (Irish for Truth) shouted: “Do you remember a statement in the House of Commons about some solicitors being unduly sympathetic (to the IRA)?

“Do you still stand by those remarks, Mr Hogg?”

But the MP, a home office minister in 1989 when loyalist gunmen murdered Mr Finucane at his north Belfast home, made no reply as he left by a rear exit.

The group were at Belfast Coroner’s Court after learning Mr Hogg, a practising barrister, was representing the widow of a soldier.

The Eton-educated ex-minister provoked outrage with his comments weeks before one of Northern Ireland’s most controversial murders.

Former Scotland Yard chief Sir John Stevens, who investigated allegations that the security forces collaborated with the Ulster Defence Association killers, found Mr Hogg had been compromised by RUC officers who briefed him before his statement.

But relatives of Mr Finucane, who insist police were involved in the plot, remain incensed by what was said.

His son, a trainee solicitor, stayed outside the courtroom protest but added: “If he was made to feel uncomfortable for even a minute I would applaud that.

“Hopefully he will have to face a full and independent public inquiry where he will have to account for what was said.”