12.2.04
ON THIS DAY | 12 | 1989: Belfast lawyer Finucane murdered
1989: BELFAST LAWYER FINUCANE MURDERED
Leading solicitor Pat Finucane has been shot dead at his home in north Belfast.
The killers burst in as he was eating his Sunday dinner with his wife and three children.
Two gunmen showered him with 14 bullets and shot his wife in the ankle.
Mrs Finucane is being treated in hospital for gunshot wounds to her legs.
The hijacked taxi the gunmen escaped in has been found in the Protestant Shankhill Road area.
Belfast lawyers have been deeply shocked by the murder of their high profile colleague.
The Northern Ireland Law Society reacted swiftly with "disbelief".
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politicians have blamed junior Home Office minister Douglas Hogg for his remarks last month about some lawyers in northern Ireland being "unduly sympathetic" to the IRA.
'Wicked killing'
Mr Hogg issued a statement condemning the shooting hours after it happened.
"This is clearly, like so many others a tragic and wicked killing. As to its cause, that must be a matter for the RUC.
"I very much hope those people responsible will be arrested, and sentenced to extremely long terms of imprisonment," he said.
Northern Ireland Secretary Tom King said: "No civilised society can tolerate murder."
Most recently Pat Finucane had been involved in the defence cases for 23 men involved with the murder of two British soldiers during an IRA funeral last summer.
His most famous client was republican hunger striker Bobby Sands.
1989: BELFAST LAWYER FINUCANE MURDERED
Leading solicitor Pat Finucane has been shot dead at his home in north Belfast.
The killers burst in as he was eating his Sunday dinner with his wife and three children.
Two gunmen showered him with 14 bullets and shot his wife in the ankle.
Mrs Finucane is being treated in hospital for gunshot wounds to her legs.
The hijacked taxi the gunmen escaped in has been found in the Protestant Shankhill Road area.
Belfast lawyers have been deeply shocked by the murder of their high profile colleague.
The Northern Ireland Law Society reacted swiftly with "disbelief".
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politicians have blamed junior Home Office minister Douglas Hogg for his remarks last month about some lawyers in northern Ireland being "unduly sympathetic" to the IRA.
'Wicked killing'
Mr Hogg issued a statement condemning the shooting hours after it happened.
"This is clearly, like so many others a tragic and wicked killing. As to its cause, that must be a matter for the RUC.
"I very much hope those people responsible will be arrested, and sentenced to extremely long terms of imprisonment," he said.
Northern Ireland Secretary Tom King said: "No civilised society can tolerate murder."
Most recently Pat Finucane had been involved in the defence cases for 23 men involved with the murder of two British soldiers during an IRA funeral last summer.
His most famous client was republican hunger striker Bobby Sands.
