12.2.04

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | Finucanes to meet commissioner

Finucanes to meet commissioner


Pat Finucane was a high profile Belfast solicitor

The family of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane is to meet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens at the end of the month.

Sir John investigated the killing and concluded that there had been collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Thursday is the 15th anniversary of the murder.

Mr Finucane was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries, the UDA, in front of his family at his home in Belfast in 1989.

The meeting between the Finucane family and Sir John Stevens will be in Belfast on 23 February. It will be the first time they have met.

It is understood the family has made clear to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner that the meeting "should not be taken as an offer of co-operation with the police investigation".

It is believed the meeting is to discuss family concerns that the continuing Stevens collusion investigation will be used to further delay the public inquiry that has been recommended by Judge Peter Cory.

Last month, his family was granted leave to apply for a judicial review of the decision not to publish a report into his killing.

In court, the government was accused of adding to the grief of the Finucane family by their delay in releasing Judge Peter Cory's report into the murder.

Mr Finucane's widow, Geraldine, was granted an application for the holding of a judicial review into the failure of the Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, to publish Judge Cory's reports, which he received last October.

Report

On Thursday morning, the SDLP will hold a protest on the steps of Stormont calling for the publication of the report.

Judge Cory was appointed by the British and Irish Governments in 2001 to examine allegations of collusion surrounding some of the most controversial killings of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Last October, he delivered six reports to the London and Dublin administrations on eight killings.

These included the murder of Mr Finucane, the killing of Catholic man Robert Hamill in Portadown in 1997, the murder of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright in the Maze Prison in 1997 and the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson in Lurgan in 1999.

The British Government says it is still considering the legal and security implications of publishing the judge's findings.





Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?