State employees actively furthered and facilitated the loyalist murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane but there was no over-arching conspiracy, a Government-commissioned report has found.
Sir Desmond de Silva’s review of the 1989 murder of the Catholic father-of-three found collusion by the state went beyond a failure to prevent the crime. Sir Desmond examined the role of two British agents in the murder and found another man involved was later also recruited as an agent, even though he was suspected in the UDA murder of Mr Finucane.
While the QC accused successive UK governments of a “wilful and abject failure” to implement an appropriate legal framework for running agents within paramilitary groups, he said no minister was aware of the plot to kill the solicitor.
Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons the murder was “an appalling crime” and said the degree of collusion exposed was “unacceptable”. I a message to the family, Mr Cameron said: “I am deeply sorry.”
Mr Cameron told MPs the de Silva report highlights “shocking” levels of state collusion. The Army and Special Branch had advance notice of a series of planned UDA assassinations, but nothing was done, he said. Mr Cameron said De Silva found that employees of the state and state agents played “key roles” in the Finucane murder, adding: “It cannot be argued that these were rogue agents.”
The review found that the Army must take a degree of responsibility for targeting activities carried out by the UDA’s Brian Nelson, said Mr Cameron. There was a “relentless” effort to defeat the ends of justice after the killing and Army officials provided the MoD with highly misleading and inaccurate information, Mr Cameron said. But the review found no evidence that any Government was informed in advance of Mr Finucane’s murder or knew about the subsequent cover-up, he said.
Mr Cameron said the Finucane family suffered “the most grievous wrongs” and he respected their view that the de Silva review was not the right response. But he said he disagreed with them, and said a public inquiry might not have uncovered so much information about the killing.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Cameron said: “The collusion demonstrated beyond any doubt by Sir Desmond - which included the involvement of state agents in murder - is totally unacceptable. We do not defend our security forces - or the many who have served in them with great distinction - by trying to claim otherwise. Collusion should never, ever happen. So on behalf of the Government - and the whole country - let me say once again to the Finucane family, I am deeply sorry.”
Labour leader Ed Miliband urged the Prime Minister to launch a public inquiry into the killing. But Mr Cameron said: “History of public inquiries in Northern Ireland would suggest that, had we gone down this route, we would not know what we know today.”
The three full criminal investigations carried out by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens amounted to “the biggest criminal investigation in British history”, he said. Mr Cameron said he had asked Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to report back to him on issues arising from the report, and promised to publish their responses.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Matt Baggott is to discuss the de Silva report with the Police Ombudsman and the Public Prosecution Service to see if more people should be held to account for the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane.
Mr Baggott announced in Belfast that he is planning talks with Ombudsman Michael Maguire and Barra McGrory, director of the PPS.
He said: “The murder should never have happened. There was a catalogue of failure which needs to be assessed to see if people should be held accountable.”
The Chief Constable said the report findings were unequivocal and he accepted them fully. He also apologised to the Finucane family.
He said: “It is clear that the murder of Mr Finucane should never have happened. The report finds that a series of positive actions by employees of the state actively furthered and facilitated his murder and that, in the aftermath of the murder, there was a relentless attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
“For that I am deeply sorry and, on behalf of the Police Service, I offer a complete, absolute and unconditional apology to Mr Finucane’s wife, Geraldine, and family.
“I know that the vast majority of colleagues, both past and present, will share in my profound sadness and disappointment at how the Finucane family were so badly and abjectly failed.
“This failure has done a great disservice to the bravery and dedication of the many who joined the police to keep all communities safe throughout the awfulness of those difficult times.”
Mr Baggott said crime could not be prevented without the use of intelligence, but the PSNI now operated within a framework of independent scrutiny and regulation which was both rigorous and demanding.
He added: “We are determined to keep everybody safe and uphold their human rights.”