Court of Appeal backs Finucane family

After 35 years battling for truth and justice, the family of Pat Finucane have welcomed the rejection by the Court of Appeal of the latest bid by the London government to avoid its legal obligations to holding a public inquiry into the murder of the defence lawyer.

Judges backed a ruling by the High Court which declaring the London’s refusal to hold a public inquiry unlawful.

Mr Finucane was shot dead by loyalists and British agents in front of his wife and three children at their north Belfast home on February 12 1989.

In 2012, then British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted British state collusion in the brutal assassination and he apologised for the murder.

But the latest ruling has highlighted the continuing determination of the British government to suppress the truth about their role.

The Court of Appeal also dismissed claims by lawyers representing the British state that Mr Finucane’s widow, Geraldine Finucane, should not have been awarded £5,000 in damages for the continued delays in responding to her justice campaign.

On Thursday, the Court of Appeal said: “This was a deliberately cruel and vicious murder designed to cause maximum hurt and upset to the family and friends of Mr Finucane.”

Previous reviews had already established that several members of the paramilitary death squad involved in planning and carrying out the assassination were in fact British agents.

Mrs Finucane and her family continued to lobby for a full public inquiry to establish the scale of Crown force collusion.

In 2019 the Supreme Court in London declared that earlier investigations into the murder failed to meet standards required by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Since then, Mrs Finucane has mounted a series of legal battles over the British’s response to those findings.

In November 2020 then British Direct Ruler Brandon Lewis announced there would not be a public inquiry ‘at this stage’ because he wanted other review processes to take place.

Lawyers representing his government sought to overturn the judge’s findings and award of damages, but the court rejected the claim that the reviews could avoid the ECHR requirement.

Fiona Doherty KC said: “The secretary of state who took this decision, and his successor who now stands over it, are the latest in a long line of secretary of states who have taken decisions to kick the can down the road in this case and run down the clock on it.”

The parties now have three weeks to agree on an Article 2 compliant process for investigation of the relevant aspects of Mr Finucane’s death.

Mr Finucane’s son John, who witnessed the brutal murder of his father, said:

“Today the Court of Appeal emphatically backed my family in our ongoing fight for truth and justice into my father’s murder and the collusion that led to it.

“It was scathing about British government delay and has made clear that if there is not agreement on next steps, the court itself will decide.

“We are ready to talk to the new British government, and we want to move forward and end the constant delay.

“After 35 years we are as committed as ever to truth and justice for my father and we welcome this significant victory today.”

LEGACY ACT ‘TO BE REPLACED’

Separately, the new British government has committed to “begin the process” of “repealing and replacing” infamous cover-up legislation on the legacy of the conflict.

The legislation, which passed through Westminster last year despite intense opposition across the political spectrum, is to be repealed, according to an outline of the Labour government’s policy delivered by King Charles this week.

Mr Finucane said the legislation had “failed victims and survivors” and said his party would engage with the new British government on the “full details” of their new approach.

Daniel Holder, Director of Belfast-based human rights NGO the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) welcomed what he said was a commitment to “return to the consensus of the [2014] Stormont House Agreement, the existing peace process agreement that was unilaterally ditched by the Tories.”

“Stormont House commits to legacy inquests for all and new genuinely independent legacy institutions. We want to see a Stormont House Agreement plus model now taken forward.

“In our view no part of the Tory Legacy Act can be fixed.”

Urgent Appeal