Irish Republican News and Information

Irish Republican News and Information, 17. April 2003, http://irlnet.com/rmlist/

Summary of Stevens 3 report on Collusion
London police chief John Stevens made the following speech at the Europa Hotel in Belfast today, on his 'Stevens 3' report on collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Earlier today I handed my full report and recommendations to Chief Constable Hugh Orde.

Following this, I attended a meeting of the Northern Ireland Police Board, where I presented my public report. I have come straight from that meeting to brief you. The tweny page public report, which I hope you have had time to look through, is short but robust. It cannot go into the detail you would like because of the ongoing nature of our investigations and further possible criminal charges and prosecutions. However, every part of the report, every single word, is supported by evidence and documentation. This material has also been available to and reviewed by Judge Peter Cory as he conducts his inquiry.

When I briefed you in February I said that I expected to deliver an interim report in April. Since then I have been able to clarify and substantiate our findings as well as identify those matters that need to be addressed urgently by all the security forces in Northern Ireland.

This has enabled me to produce a more final version with 21 recommendations, although I stress that our inquiries are ongoing. Some major lines of inquiry are still in the early stages of investigation. As I have said previously these will - and must - take as long as they take.

So what am I saying in my report? Well, in short:

We have identified serious shortcomings highlighting collusion, which I define as:

. the failure to keep records
. the absence of accountability
. the withholding of intelligence and evidence, and
. the extreme of security forces agents being involved in murder.

These serious acts and omissions have meant that innocent people were murdered or seriously injured.

Also, a Government Minister was compromised in the House of Commons.

My three inquiries, dating back to 1989 have also been wilfully obstructed and misled.

During the course of these inquiries 9,256 statements have been taken, 10,391 documents -totalling over one million pages and weighing over 4 tons - have been recorded and 16,194 exhibits seized.

This has led to144 arrests and, so far 94 persons have been convicted. To date 57 separate reports have been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland for his direction. These reports contain the detail of my three inquiries.

I want to pay tribute to all the police officers and civilian support staff who have worked on my three Enquiries who, together with certain Army and RUC officers, the CID in particular, with whom we worked closely over the years. Without them we would not have got were we are today. Sadly, some are no longer with us.

What I can tell you today is this:

THE MURDERS OF PATRICK FINUCANE AND BRIAN LAMBERT

For many years we have known the killers of Patrick Finucane. The challenge has been to bring them to justice and our inquiries are continuing. However, we uncovered enough evidence to believe that his murder, and that of Brain Lambert, could have been prevented. The RUC investigation of Patrick Finucane's murder should have resulted in the early arrest and detection of his killers.

This leads me to conclude that there was collusion in both murders and circumstance surrounding them.

We arrested three of the original suspects for the murder of Patrick Finucane and nine other men were arrested for the first time on suspicion of murder. None of those arrested could be linked forensically to the murder scene and no admissible evidence has been obtained to enable any of them to be charged. However, they all played a significant role in the murder or the events surrounding it and this part of my Enquiry is still ongoing.

Similarly we arrested five men on suspicion of the murder of Brian Lambert. None of these were charged with his murder because of a lack of evidence to satisfy the prosecution test.

I can share the frustration of Mrs Finucane and the parents of Brian Lambert and, once again, offer them my sympathies for the loss of their loved ones. I want to assure them that I remain as determined as ever to try and bring the perpetrators of these murders to justice. We will continue until we have explored every last avenue of opportunity.

WILLIAM STOBIE

William Stobie was an RUC Special Branch agent who, before the murder of Patrick Finucane supplied information of a murder being planned. He also provided his handlers with significant information after the murder, principally concerning the collection of a firearm. This vital information did not reach the original murder inquiry team and remains a significant issue under investigation by my Enquiry team.

As you know Stobie was charged with the murder of Patrick Finucane but the key prosecution witness failed to give evidence on account of his mental state. Stobie's murder, and his refusal to accept protection beforehand, is a matter that has been investigated by the PSNI.

INVESTIGATION OF AGENTS

My Enquiry team also examined the role of agents active around the time of both murders, in particular those of William Stobie and Brian Nelson.

Nelson's role raised issues arising from the work of the Force Research Unit (FRU), the Army's agent-handling unit in Northern Ireland. We interviewed twenty former members of the FRU and files seeking legal advice in relation to nine of them have been prepared. New material uncovered since my last report has shed further light on this matter and these inquiries are also still ongoing.

INTELLIGENCE MATERIAL

A wealth of material recovered from loyalist paramilitary groups, particularly that belonging to Nelson, has been forensically examined. Using the latest advances in technology, we identified the fingerprints of 81 people who had no legal reason to possess classified documents. Twenty-seven were arrested and interviewed of whom six were charged and convicted. The remaining 21 cases failed to satisfy the prosecution test.

OTHER MATTERS CONCERNING COLLUSION

The allegation of widespread collusion between the loyalist paramilitaries, the RUC and the Army has been one of the major issues for my Enquiry, underpinning virtually all aspects of the individual investigations.

We attempted to establish whether loyalist paramilitaries or RUC officers had threatened Mr Finucane, and whether he had made any formal complaint. The absence of any record means that this criminal allegation cannot be substantiated against any RUC officers.

We also investigated an allegation that senior RUC officers briefed Douglas Hogg, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, that ' some solicitors were unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA'.

Mr Hogg repeated this view during a debate on the Prevention of Terrorism legislation in the House of Commons on 17 January 1989, a few weeks before Mr Finucane was murdered.

To the extent that they were based on information passed by the RUC, the comments were not justifiable and my Enquiry concludes that the Minister was compromised.

RUC records dealing with threat intelligence were also examined to determine whether both sides of the community were dealt with in equal measure. They were not.

OBSTRUCTION

From day 1 my Enquiries team has been obstructed in its work. Obstruction that was cultural in its nature and widespread within parts of the Army and the RUC. Some of this was documented in my first report and its significance has grown as a result of more recent disclosures.

During my first Enquiry I was asked to examine particular documents but received assurances that they did not exist. My latest Enquiry team has now recovered all these documents. The dates on them show that they all existed at the time of my first request.

Following three recent, major disclosures by the Army and the Ministry of Defence I am investigating whether the concealment of documents and information was sanctioned and, if so, at what levels of the organisations holding them.

The fire that destroyed our incident room, in my opinion, has never been adequately investigated and I believe it was a deliberate act of arson.

Throughout my Enquiries we have grown accustomed to press speculation, rumour, counter rumour and misinformation, some deliberately designed to throw us off course. This may have made our job harder and longer but I am confident that through the investigative efforts of my Enquiry teams we have managed to overcome these obstacles and achieve the overall objectives of my Enquiry.

RECOMMENDATIONS

My recommendations cover the operation of all the security forces in Northern Ireland. They should not be seen in isolation as they complement and support those contained in Blelloch report, the Patten Report, the Ombudsman Report on the Omagh bombing and the HMIC Report into the PSNI Special Branch.

They should also be independently reviewed and audited within an agreed time frame.

CONCLUSION

The failure to keep records or the existence of contradictory accounts can often be perceived as evidence of concealment or malpractice. It limits the opportunity to rebut serious allegations.

The absence of accountability allowed the acts or omissions of individuals to go undetected.

The withholding of information impeded the prevention of crime and the arrest of suspects.

The unlawful involvement of agents in murder implied that the security forces sanction killings.

My three enquiries have found all these elements of collusion to be present.

The coordination, dissemination and sharing of intelligence were poor.

Informants and agents were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes.

Nationalists were known to be targeted but were not properly warned or protected.

Crucial information was withheld from Senior Investigating Officers.

Important evidence was neither exploited not preserved.

My enquires with regard to satisfying the test for prosecution in relation to possible offences arising out of these matters are continuing.

This is the largest investigation undertaken in the United Kingdom. It should not have taken 14 years to get this far.

None of us are above the law. And no future Enquiry should have to be conducted like this.

I am now happy to take questions but hope you will appreciate that I am limited in what I can say because of sub judice and our continuing work.