Public inquiries into British state collusion
01 March 2004
The Northern Ireland Secretary, Paul Murphy, announced at the beginning of April that there will be public inquiries into three controversial killings in Northern Ireland. Murphy was responding to the publication of the Cory report, an investigation by a retired Canadian judge into allegations of security force collusion in four killings. The decision that an investigation into the murder of the fourth subject, Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, should be deferred until ongoing court proceedings were completed has been described as "shameful" by Amnesty International. Ten pages of the report had been blanked out by the government.
Strong circumstantial evidence of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries has existed since the early 1970s. However, positive corroboration was not forthcoming until 1998, when BBC journalist John Ware found positive written corroboration stating that the British Army's Force Research Unit practised "assassination by proxy", assisting the UDA with intelligence to such an extent that UDA assassinations would, as a consequence, be made on the basis of what the Army considered to be proper targeting. Cory's inquiry found that sections of the security forces saw themselves as above the law and considered lawyers who acted on behalf of republicans as legitimate targets. He also confirmed that agents had set up murders and supplied loyalists with army intelligence that was probably used to kill nationalists.
The three murders to be investigated are those of:
Robert Hamill: On 27 April 1997, Robert Hamill left a club in the centre of Portadown on foot with two others when they were attacked by a loyalist crowd of around thirty. He was kicked so badly that he died in hospital a few days later. The beating was observed by an RUC vehicle patrol which was parked nearby, but they failed to intervene. The RUC said that they were outnumbered and unable to get reinforcements. Eventually, six people were arrested and charged with murder, but the charges were dropped prompting the Hamill family to launch a private prosecution against the RUC.
Rosemary Nelson: Internationally respected civil rights lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, was killed in Lurgan, Co Armagh, in 1999 when an explosive device was detonated beneath her car by loyalist paramilitaries. Days earlier RUC police officers had issued threats to her life. She had initiated an action against them after Robert Hamill, had been murdered.
Billy Wright: Wright, the leader of the paramilitary Loyalist Volunteer Force, was shot dead by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) while imprisoned in Long Kesh/The Maze at the end of 1997. Three INLA prisoners gave themselves up and were later convicted of the murder.
No decision has been made on holding an inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor, Pat Finucane, who was shot dead in front of his family outside his home in February 1989. This is ostensibly because criminal proceedings are ongoing against a West Belfast loyalist and alleged security force agent, Ken Barrett, who will stand trial in September. Murphy indicated that a decision on whether or not to hold an inquiry in the Finucane killing would be made at the conclusion to the legal proceedings. The failure to establish an immediate public inquiry into his death was criticised by Mr Finucane's widow, Geraldine, who said that the British government: "continue to cover up the truth about the death of my husband with their delaying tactics." Judge Peter Cory, speaking days after his report was published, expressed his "disappointment" that the trial had taken precedent over further investigations arguing that the Finucane case was one of the "rare occasions" where it was more important to hold a public inquiry than a trial. The three inquiries are to start "as soon as possible"
The Cory reports can be accessed on the Northern Ireland Office website http://www.nio.gov.uk/press/040401a.htm