Irish Republican News and Information, 13 June 2002, http://irlnet.com/rmlist/ 

 

STEVENS INQUIRY FINDS 'INSTITUTIONALISED COLLUSION' - REPORTS

The inquiry into the murder of the Belfast defence lawyer, Pat Finucane, has found "institutionalised collusion" between British forces in the North and Loyalist paramilitaries.

According to leaked details of its findings, the inquiry has found that the collusion continued for years because of a culture of "gross unprofessionalism and irresponsibility".

The latest inquiry into the killing of Mr Finucane was set up three years ago by London's Metropolitan Police Commissioner, John Stevens.

Stevens has conducted two previous inquiries in the North, but both were shelved. While there is hope that this report will zsee the light of day, the family of the murdered man continue to insist that only a full public inquiry will uncover the truth.

In 1989, loyalist gunmen broke into the Antrim Road home of Pat Finucane, and used 14 bullets to kill him in front of his wife and children as they ate Sunday dinner. Nobody has ever been tried for the murder.

The inquiry into the killing and related matters by John Stevens is due to issue its report within weeks. The report will outline how collusion between British forces and Loyalist paramilitaries went unchecked for years. Stevens is expected to recommend charges against several RUC (now PSNI) police and British army officers and to outline proposals for wholesale reform, including major changes to the Special Branch section, the RUC's intelligence division.

Day-to-day responsibility for the Stevens Inquiry fell to Hugh Orde, who is to take over as Chief Constable of the North's police service.

Speaking to former soldiers, paramilitaries and double agents, the Stevens team confirmed the obvious collusion between paramilitaries and the "security" forces. His report does not estimate the number of shootings that resulted from the collusion, but he believes that loyalists were incapable of carrying out targeted assassinations without significant help, according to the leaked accounts.

But clear evidence to prove the existence of an official policy of collusion within the RUC proved difficult to find. The workings of the RUC's Special Branch - the police intelligence division - were largely undocumented, and there were no guidelines about its conduct.

Attempts by the Stevens team to find out who was in charge of operations was "like trying to juggle soot", according to leaked accounts. Former RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan would have had ultimate responsibility for the Special Branch's operations, however.

Stevens has conducted two previous inquiries in the North, but both were politically suppressed.

It has long been public knowledge in the case of Pat Finucane's murder, details had been passed to loyalist paramilitaries by an army double agent, Brian Nelson, who was helping loyalists to identify leading Catholics.

But the report also confirms that two of the UDA gang members thought to be responsible for the killing were working for the RUC. One of the two guns used was stolen from a British Army barracks. The weapon was recovered by RUC and returned to the British Army, who quickly destroyed its evidentiary value.

During the course of the inquiry, the Stevens team reviewed documents from the Ministry of Defence, which detailed the illegal activities of soldiers working for the British Army's undercover "counter-terrorist" unit, the Force Research Unit (FRU). One of the FRU's agents was Brian Nelson, who played a key role in several killings.

The former commander of the FRU, Brigadier Gordon Kerr, is to be interviewed under caution within weeks.

The Stevens team has not yet identified the chain of command for the FRU or teased out its workings with the RUC Special Branch and MI5, British military intelligence.

Revelations over the RUC's handling of the 1998 Omagh bomb, including the failure to act on or to communicate warnings of an attack, also indicated to the Stevens team that little has changed since Mr Finucane's murder, and that the recommendations of two previous investigations into policing by Stevens - in 1991 and 1994 - were ignored.

Stevens will not call for the disbandment of the Special Branch, but the reports indicate he will recommend radical reform to try to bring the much criticised department - described in the 1999 Patten report as a "force within a force" - to heel.

One Stevens detective expressed amazement at the the continuing approach of the RUC/PSNI.

"The RUC's attitude is incredible. There's no attempt to keep law and order. That is the story of what is going on in Northern Ireland at the moment, not what happened more than 10 years ago."