Finucane ruling puts Britain in firing line

BRITAIN last night faced new demands to call an international judicial inquiry after a European Court of Human Rights ruling which claimed the Royal Ulster Constabulary investigation of the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane was ineffective.

Judges in Strasbourg also said the police probe lacked independence because the force was suspected by Mrs Finucane's widow Geraldine of making death threats against her husband.

He was gunned down by loyalist Ulster Defence Association gunmen in front of his family at their north Belfast home in February 1989.