Pat Finucane’s son hits out at legacy case delay

THE son of a prominent Belfast solicitor murdered by loyalists has said delay has replaced collusion as the British Government’s chief weapon against victims.

John Finucane, whose father Pat was shot dead in front of his family 30 years ago, was speaking at an event at Belfast City Hall last night.

His family has campaigned relentlessly for a public inquiry into the killing.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled that investigations into the shooting have not been effective and had fallen short of international human rights standards.

Nearly eight months on, John Finucane said ministers were still “digesting” the judgment and claimed they hoped those who lost loved ones during the Troubles would die off.

He said: “They are continuing the policy, the only policy that they do have, and it is an extension of the policy of collusion, which is delay. We see this being carried out with so many families, families who lost loved ones well before 1989.”

Pat Finucane was shot in front of his family in north Belfast in February 1989. It remains one of the most controversial killings of the Troubles.

John Finucane, Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O’Neill and Gerry Adams

Members of the IRA had been among his clients.

His widow Geraldine Finucane has challenged former Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision not to hold a public inquiry.

A separate review commissioned by the former Prime Minister declared his killers colluded with the state in a “shocking” fashion.

Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has written a book about the case.

His publication: Pat Finucane; A Community Reflects, was launched last night.

Mr Adams said: “As a human rights lawyer it didn’t matter to Pat whether you were a republican,

a unionist, a loyalist, or none of these.

“He was a lawyer working within a unionist and British dominated legal and judicial process in which the torture and beating of detainees was part and parcel of the system of arrest and interrogation.

“The British state determined to silence him and working with its agents within the UDA they shot him in front of Geraldine and the children on February 12, 1989.”

“They thought that was the end of it.

“They thought they had silenced Pat but they were wrong,” Mr Adams added.