Did RUC give Finucane killers a free run?
BY LAURA FRIEL
The RUC Special Branch handlers of the self-confessed UDA quartermaster, William Stobie, who supplied and disposed of the weapons used to kill Pat Finucane, have been questioned by the Stevens team.
One of three RUC handlers involved with Stobie has since died but the remaining two, codenamed Raymond and Ian, were questioned under caution in connection with the allegation that the loyalist gang who carried out the fatal shooting were given a free run by the RUC on the night of the killing.
Stobie claims that he informed his handlers on two separate occasions of a pending loyalist attack by a named gang. Yet despite his warning nothing was done to thwart the gang's plot.
According to a Stevens' source, vital evidence which could have confirmed Stobie's claim that he made two telephone calls to his handlers at Castlereagh RUC station has been ``lost'', with RUC Chiefs claiming that no records can be found. Threats against Pat Finucane's life first surfaced by RUC Special Branch during interrogations in Castlereagh.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that a chief witness against Stobie, NIO Press Officer Neil Mulholland, recently contacted the Gardai in Donegal and claimed he was being followed by British Intelligence agents.
Earlier in the year, Mulholland signed himself into a psychiatric hospital to be treated for depression. He recently signed himself out and is currently staying in Donegal.
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