Britain must face the truth

The Finucane family have been praised for their determination through 35 years of stonewalling by successive British administrations to finally force the current government to hold an independent public inquiry into the murder of their husband and father.

Pat Finucane was a prominent Belfast defence lawyer when he was horrifically gunned down at his home, in front of his family, by a death squad mostly or entirely comprised of British agents.

Speaking at Westminster on Wednesday, British Direct Ruler Hilary Benn admitted that commitments made by previous British governments had been reneged upon.

He noted the last Labour government under Tony Blair had itself promised on two occasions to establish an inquiry and that “solemn commitment” from the British state had remained “unfulfilled”.

“It is for this reason that I have decided to establish an independent inquiry,” he said.

In fact his hand had been forced by the persistence of the Finucane family and their legal team who battled the case to the Supreme Court in London and won, but still struggled to get the British government to accept its judgement.

“Their campaign has been an inspiration to all families struggling for truth and justice,” said Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill.

South Belfast MP Claire Hanna, who is due to be confirmed as the SDLP’s next leader next month, said the murder of Mr Finucane “remains one of the most devastating killings of the troubles and is marred in collusion”.

“Today is about the tenacity of the Finucane family, including my constituency neighbour John, but has resonance for all those involved with the legacy process,” she said.

Paul O’Connor from the Pat Finucane Centre, which is named after the murdered lawyer, said the inquiry “is the only mechanism that can provide for the type of inquiry necessary when state agents murder citizens”.

Lawyer Kevin Winters, who worked alongside Mr Finucane, added: “The perseverance of the Finucane family chimes with legal lessons in perseverance I learned from Pat before the state took him out.”

Although the long delay and the death of some of those involved in the killing means considerable information may no longer be accessible to an inquiry, the family said that the exposure of the truth could begin a process of healing.

At an emotional press conference, Mr Finucane’s widow Geraldine said it is “time for truth”.

She said “an independent, statutory public inquiry is and was the only way to bring the whole truth behind the murder of Pat Finucane into the light of day”.

“If a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane can finally publicly examine all of the collusion that plagued our society for so many years, then there is hope that the real process of healing can begin,” she said.

Mrs Finucane said it is “high time” her husband’s case was “properly investigated, publicly examined, and finally resolved”.

“I believe that my family deserve this after so many years,” she said.

“Pat Finucane deserves this after so many years. Society as a whole deserves this, after so many years. After 35 years of cover-ups, it is time for truth.”

The Finucane justice campaign is already one of the longest in British legal history. In a piecemeal fashion, state involvement in the killing was admitted since 2003, firstly in a report by top police figure John Stevens, which was actively suppressed, and then in 2012, when barrister Desmond de Silva confirmed there was collusion in the case, forcing an apology from then British Prime Minister David Cameron.

After several more years of legal struggle, the Supreme Court in 2019 ruled that investigations into the killing have not been effective and fell short of international human rights standards.

In July this year the Court of Appeal in Belfast gave the London government three weeks to confirm how it would carry out an investigation into the killing that was compliant with Article Two of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to life. Last week the court extended that timeline by three weeks.

The 39-year-old was gunned down by British agents in front of his wife and three children at their north Belfast home in February 1989 in an attack claimed by the unionist paramilitary UDA. In fact, the killing involved several agents of the Crown.

They included Brian Nelson, a UDA ‘intelligence officer’ and British military agent who imported weapons for loyalism in the late 1980s, and passed a photograph of Mr Finucane to his killers before the murder; police Special Branch agent William Stobie, who admitted supplying the weapon used in the killing; and at least one other state agent, Ken Barrett, who confessed to driving the getaway car.

It is accepted that the handlers of both Stobie and Nelson were fully aware that Mr Finucane was to be killed.

In a statement, Geraldine Finucane said it had been “a long journey” to get to the point where the establishment of an independent public inquiry has finally become a reality.

“I look forward to having the opportunity to participate in a statutory inquiry and expose publicly the whole truth behind the murder of my husband,” she said.

“This has always been the objective of the campaign that my family and I have pursued for 35 years. We have only ever been concerned with uncovering the truth. It is this that has kept us going. It is the thing that has been missing, all these years.

“We did not believe that his murder was simply the work of gunmen who killed him. We had no confidence that police investigations would ever bring those truly responsible to justice.

“We were not satisfied with private, limited reviews from which we were excluded. We could not and did not accept the assurances of previous British governments that they were anxious to set the record straight, because they were never prepared to do so in public.

“An independent, statutory public inquiry is and was the only way to bring the whole truth behind the murder of Pat Finucane into the light of day.

“The journey to this point is not one that my family and I have had to endure alone. Indeed, we would never have succeeded without the assistance and support and encouragement of so many people over the years.

“I could not begin to thank them all by name here today. So many people, all over the world, were willing to give generously of their time and talent again and again. I want to record my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to each and every one of them. We would not be here today without them.

“However, I would like to single out one person out for special mention, and that is Peter Madden. Peter was my husband’s business partner and friend, throughout Pat’s all-too-short legal career. He has been a source of unending strength and resilience. I cannot thank him enough for what he has done for my family, or, indeed, the entire legal team that has represented us so fearlessly and brilliantly in our fight for a public inquiry.

“Most of all, I believe this inquiry can be a watershed moment in the difficult subject of legacy in this part of our island. If a public inquiry in to the murder of Pat Finucane can finally publicly examine all of the collusion that plagued our society for so many years, then there is hope that the real process of healing can begin. The murder of Pat Finucane is the last remaining Weston Park case. It is high time it was properly investigated, publicly examined, and finally resolved.

“I believe that my family deserve this after so many years. Pat Finucane deserves this after so many years. Society as a whole deserves this, after so many years. After 35 years of cover-ups, it is time for truth.”

Urgent Appeal