A government report on collusion in the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane which published its findings today was branded a sham and a whitewash by his widow. Mr Finucane was shot 14 times by loyalist paramilitaries in his home in 1989 just weeks after former Home Office minister Douglas Hogg claimed in the Commons that he had been briefed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) that some Northern Ireland solicitors were "unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA."
The murder has long been regarded as one of the most infamous of the Troubles and one of the clearest examples of security force collusion. The Finucane family have demanded a full independent inquiry into the killing. But the coalition reneged on a pledge by the previous administration and commissioned a review of the evidence by Sir Desmond de Silva QC instead - the report of which was published today.
Following the publication Prime Minister David Cameron rejected calls for an inquiry yet again, despite saying that Mr de Silva had presented evidence of "shocking" levels of collusion. Mr Cameron said the report clearly showed that British state agents had "actively furthered and facilitated the murder." But the report stopped short of laying any blame at the government's door and said that there was "no over-arching conspiracy."
Mr Finucane's widow Geraldine, who was injured in the attack, told a London press conference: "This report is not the truth." Ms Finucane renewed her call for a full public inquiry into the murder. She said the British government had suppressed the truth and tried to throw all blame on dead people and disbanded organisations while exonerating ministers, serving officers and existing security agencies. Ms Finucane said: "Yet another British government has engineered a suppression of the truth behind the murder of my husband Pat Finucane.
"At every turn it is clear that this report has done exactly what was required - to give the benefit of the doubt to the state, its Cabinet and ministers, to the army, to the intelligence services and to itself. "At every turn, dead witnesses have been blamed and defunct agencies found wanting. Serving personnel and active state departments appear to have been excused. "The dirt has been swept under the carpet without any serious attempt to lift the lid on what really happened to Pat and so many others.
"This report is a sham. "This report is a whitewash. This report is a confidence trick dressed up as independent scrutiny and given invisible clothes of reliability. "But most of all, most hurtful and insulting of all, this report is not the truth."
Source: The Morning Star 12-12-2012
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