The independent public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane will examine “to what extent were his killers encouraged, assisted, protected or directed” by the British state, its lead counsel has said.
Describing it as the “core concern” at the heart of the Belfast solicitor’s murder, Matthew Hill on Tuesday told the inquiry there was “no more serious question in a democratic society governed by the rule of law”.
Delivering his opening statement at the inquiry’s headquarters in Belfast, the barrister outlined the areas it will explore, which include the role and responsibility of Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the British army, MI5 and the UK government in Finucane’s murder.
Finucane (39), a father-of-three, was shot dead by members of the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at his family home in north Belfast in 1989 in an attack subsequently found by a number of investigations to have involved collusion with the British state.
Hill said the inquiry would consider the interactions between the security forces and the UDA “and the extent to which they did or did not influence the murder of Patrick Finucane”.
It will also examine “a more stark and disturbing explanation”, he said, that “these interactions were not nebulous, but the consequence of a deliberate action to use the UDA as a proxy to murder a lawyer who had incurred the enmity of the state”.
The Patrick Finucane Inquiry, which opened earlier this year chaired by the retired Court of Appeals judge Gary Hickinbottom, was set up as a result of a 2019 ruling by the UK Supreme Court.
It found the British authorities had failed to carry out an investigation into his murder which complied with article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
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According to its terms of reference, the inquiry will seek to determine the circumstances of Finucane’s murder, establish the identity of all those involved and the nature of their involvement, and whether it could have been prevented.
Hill outlined a summary of what is currently known about Finucane’s murder from the publicly available material, citing previous investigations and reviews, including that carried out by senior barrister Desmond de Silva, published in 2015.
The “overall assessment” of the de Silva report “was that there had been collusion in the murder of Patrick Finucane, a finding the government has accepted and is reflected in our terms of reference,” he told the inquiry.
As part of its investigations, the inquiry will also consider the role of the British army agent Brian Nelson, the actions of RUC officers and “the alleged direct culpability of an RUC officer or RUC officers in the decision to murder Patrick Finucane”.
It will also look at evidence and allegations that the RUC failed to take action to prevent the murder and subsequently failed to properly investigate it.
The inquiry will also examine “the extensive sharing of information and assistance between the RUC and the UDA, and the attitude of RUC officers who represented republicans”.
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“The role of the RUC can be divided into first, encouragement, second, a failure to act before the murder, third, a failure to investigate after the murder, and fourth, a wider role in facilitating the terrorism of the UDA,” the inquiry heard.
Referencing the response of the then UK prime minister to the publication of the de Silva report, Hill quoted David Cameron as saying it showed “frankly, shocking levels of collusion”.
“That, we suggest, is an inescapable conclusion,” said Hill, adding that Finucane’s murder was therefore “an event of public importance” but was also “a private tragedy”.
Paying tribute to Finucane, he said the inquiry “concerns the brutal murder of a father, a husband, a son and a brother” and described him as “a groundbreaking lawyer who developed law, and the rule of law, in time of conflict”.
“He did so in the knowledge that this placed him at risk of violence,” Hill said.
“This inquiry will hear about him, about his work. That work was not incidental to his murder.
“One of our roles as counsel to the inquiry is to ensure that Patrick Finucane the man is not forgotten in our analysis of the events of his murder.
“His life is not defined by the way it was so brutally cut short.”