US group calls for public inquiry into Finucane killing

A public inquiry is needed into the murder of Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane and into allegations of security force involvement, the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR) has said.

In a report published this morning

Beyond Collusion: The UK security Forces and the murder of Patrick Finucane

the LCHR reveals new allegations of security force involvement in the killing.

Today is the 13th anniversary of the shooting dead by Mr Finucane by two members of the Ulster Freedom Fighters - a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association.

A key LCHR recommendation is that the Irish and British governments abandon the Weston Park proposals. Agreed in July of 2001, these involve appointing "a judge of international standing from outside both jurisdictions to undertake a thorough investigation of collusion" in the murder of Mr Finucane, as well as five other cases.

Under this plan the volume of will prevent the truth from emerging from the these cases for years, according to the LCHR. The group also claims that the investigation to date has not satisfied international law.

The report claims the three investigations into Mr Finucane’s killing, led by Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London Sir John Stevens, have not complied with International Human rights law.

Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights requires investigations must be carried out independently of members implicated in the killing. "Despite this, we understand that all three Stevens investigations were instigated by the RUC and report back to the RUC," the report said.

The LCHR says a public inquiry must be established "immediately" because evidence is disappearing and witnesses are under threat while the British government delays.

Allegations of security force involvement centre on evidence taken from three men working as informants or for intelligence agencies. Two British intelligence agencies are implicated by the LCHR report in Mr Finucane’s murder.

The Force Research Unit (FRU) recruited Brian Nelson to infiltrate the UDA and he later prepared targeting information for the murder of Mr Finucane, the LCHR report claims. It says FRU documents about Mr Nelson were withheld from the Stevens investigations.

On December 12th last year, William Stobie was killed after he called for a public inquiry into the Finucane murder.

At the time of Mr Finucane’s murder, Mr Stobie was an agent for the Special Branch intelligence agency. As the UDA quartermaster, Mr Stobie supplied weapons for the hit on Mr Finucane.

In interviews before his death, he insisted his Special Branch handlers were informed of developments and knew the names of the UDA men involved.

Evidence given by a former FRU officer who spoke the LCHR under the pseudonym "Martin Ingram" is another basis for a public inquiry, the LCHR claims. "Ingram" has suggested the FRU and Special Branch knew the UDA was targeting Mr Finucane.

Another piece of new information includes a recently-retired police officer detailing the many threats he has received from officers in the RUC’s intelligence division in response to his attempts to pursue the prosecution of a man who had confessed to being one of the two gunmen in the murder.

The final recommendation from the LCHR is for the Police Service of Northern Ireland to commit fully to the Patten Commission policing reforms.

"There continues to be a widely held perception that police officers and other members of the security forces who act outside the law have not and will not be held accountable for their actions", the LCHR said.

This morning the Dublin Solicitors Bar Associations (DSBA) joined the call for a public inquiry into the murder of Mr Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.

DSBA president Ms Helen Sheehy said: "Both Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson were murdered because of their work".