Calls for inquiry into alleged NI collusion

Relatives For Justice, a pressure group which campaigns on behalf of bereaved families in the North, will add its voice today…

Relatives For Justice, a pressure group which campaigns on behalf of bereaved families in the North, will add its voice today to the demands for a public inquiry into alleged collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces.

The group is bringing together some 100 relatives of those killed by loyalist gunmen to - in its own words - "call for an independent, international judicial inquiry into the arming, controlling and directing of loyalist terrorist organisations by the British government".

The group was founded in 1991 and assists the families of those affected by loyalist violence as well as campaigning to have the truth about the killings exposed.

This latest call for an inquiry follows the broadcasting last night of the second part of the BBC's Panorama investigation into collusion and the killing of the solicitor Pat Finucane in February 1989.

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The programme, A Licence To Murder, named the loyalist it alleges gave the order for Mr Finucane to be killed and made further allegations that covert military operatives and RUC Special Branch figures allowed loyalists to target Catholics.

Panorama also confronted a figure from the army intelligence unit (FRU) in an attempt to have the accusations about collusion answered.

Brig Gordon Kerr, now the British military attaché in Beijing, has always defended the use of Brian Nelson, a double agent named in connection with Mr Finucane's murder, to head UDA intelligence-gathering by claiming that his placement in that role was intended to save lives.

Brig Kerr has insisted that the FRU made every possible effort to inform police of all available intelligence on planned UDA attacks and he claimed that 730 reports passed on details of 217 targeted individuals. However, members of the Stevens inquiry, which is investigating the controversy and is due to report soon, have rejected his assessment.

Speaking publicly for the first time, one detective found only two cases where Nelson's information had helped to thwart attacks.

The programme also made a damning assessment of the FRU's attempts to prevent the assassination of Gerard Slane at his west Belfast home in September 1988. A Catholic father of three, loyalists wrongly thought he was a republican gunman.

The former head of the FRU declined to answer journalist John Ware's questions about claims that he and his unit had been "complicit in murder".

Brig Kerr is now expected to be interviewed by the Stevens team.

The senior officer with day-to-day control of the investigation, Mr Hugh Orde, is also the Chief Constable-designate of the PSNI. He has already publicly promised a frank report. This is expected to be delivered to the Policing Board next month.

The clamour for a wider investigation into allegations of loyalist collusion has grown significantly. The Government, the SDLP, Sinn Féin, lawyers and human rights groups have already pressed for a public inquiry.