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Not the truth

14.12.2012 | Irish Republican News, An Phoblacht, Press Association

Cameron admits collusion, but denies conspiracy in the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. His widow has dismissed the report into Pat Finucanes death by Sir Desmond de Silva as "a sham... a whitewash... a confidence trick", telling a press conference: "This report is not the truth."

The British Prime Minister has admitted the assassination of Pat Finucane was "an appalling crime" which involved three state agents, the RUC police and the British Army, but he has stopped short of ordering a public inquiry. In a statement to the Westminster parliament this afternoon Mr Cameron said there had been "shocking" levels of state collusion but no "over-arching state conspiracy". He was speaking following the release of an official report on the murder of the Belfast defence lawyer by British barrister Desmond de Silva.

His comments went further than any previous statement by a British Prime Minister, but appeared to draw a veil over the potential involvement by the Tory government of the day in the atrocity.

The de Silva report confirms that the British Army suggested Finucane as a target and were heavily involved in the murder and subsequent cover-up. But the report does not succeed in identifying those politically responsible for the assassination plan, or make any link to the comment by Minister Douglas Hogg in the government of Margaret Thatcher, just weeks before the murder, that "some solicitors were unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA".

The review finds that actions by employees of the state "actively facilitated" the killing, and that 85% of the intelligence obtained by the UDA came from the British Crown. In a two year period, there were 89,270 separate incidents of what were described as "leaks" from the Crown forces to UDA.

Cameron told MPs today that the British Army and Special Branch had advance notice of a series of planned UDA assassinations, but "nothing was done". Employees of the state and stage agents played "key roles" in the Finucane murder, and he admitted: "It cannot be argued that these were rogue agents."

The Finucane family had suffered "the most grievous wrongs" but Cameron continued to disagree about the need for a public inquiry, claiming the de Silva report provides "the fullest possible account of the murder of Pat Finucane and the extent of state collusion". He said the degree of collusion exposed was "unacceptable" and said in a message to the family: "I am deeply sorry."

Widow of Pat Finucane dismisses 'whitewash' report

The widow of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has dismissed the report into his death by Sir Desmond de Silva as "a sham... a whitewash... a confidence trick", telling a press conference: "This report is not the truth."

Renewing her call for a full public inquiry into her husband's 1989 death, Geraldine Finucane said the British Government had suppressed the truth and attempted to throw all blame on dead individuals and disbanded organisations while exonerating ministers, serving officers and existing security agencies. Mrs 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." Mrs Finucane said her family had been "misled and humiliated in a cruel and unnecessary fashion" when they were invited to Downing Street last year, only to be told that there would be no public inquiry and that instead Mr Cameron was ordering a behind-closed-doors review of documents. "I left Downing Street that day so angry I could hardly speak," she said.

She insisted that the family came to London prepared to judge the report with "an open mind" and with "a faint hope" that their misgivings would be proved wrong. But she added: "I regret to say that once again we have been proved right." Mrs Finucane said the review had been "compiled by a lawyer with strong links to the Conservative Party who was appointed by the Conservative Government without consultation".

And she added: "The report is the result of a process into which we have had no input - we have seen no documents, nor heard any witnesses. In short, we have had no chance to assess the evidence for ourselves at first hand. We are expected to take the word of the man appointed by the British Government." Mrs Finucane said she accepted Mr Cameron's apology but suggested he had little choice but to offer one. "He is a human being. He probably does think it is an atrocious act. But unfortunately he is quite removed from Northern Ireland or what went on in the late '80s. So maybe it isn't very hard for him to apologise. "I will give him the benefit of the doubt and accept the apology but it doesn't go far enough because I don't really know what he is apologising for." The report "doesn't tell me much more" than previous inquiries, she said.

Irish Government pressed to search its files to help Finucane family

Picture: British Prime Minister's residence, 10 Downing Street – How far up did the Finucane murder plot go?

THE IRISH GOVERNMENT has been asked to carry out an extensive trawl of all the official documents in its possession to help the Finucane family in their push for the public inquiry to see how far up in Whitehall the plot by British agents to kill Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane went. Following this week’s publication of the de Silva report into the February 1989 killing carried out by British Army and RUC Special Branch agents in the UDA, a commitment by the British Government to hold a public inquiry has been reneged on despite having been agreed at the Weston Park talks in 2001.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has now written to Taoiseach Enda Kenny urging the search for vital evidence that could add pressure for a public inquiry. “The Irish Government needs to shift into a higher gear in support of the family,” Gerry Adams said. “A strategic approach is required that would see the Government use its diplomatic services across the globe and its influence in the USA, in the EU and at the United Nations, where the Irish Government now sits on the Human Rights Council, to win support for the Finucane family.”

Taoiseach Charlie Haughey phoned solicitor PJ McGrory following the murder of Pat Finucane and promised to raise the RUC/UDA threat to his life with Downing Street. And Gerry Adams is dismissive of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s claim that British Government ministers were not aware of the extent of UDA intelligence officer Brian Nelson’s role as a British Army agent.

“Nelson is believed to have been involved in at least 15 murders, probably many more and scores of attempted killings. Far from prosecuting Nelson fully, and to prevent the detail of Nelson’s role as an agent being scrutinised in court, then Secretary of State Patrick Mayhew did a deal with Nelson. The murder charges against Nelson were dropped.It was agreed that Colonel Gordon Kerr, the head of British military intelligence’s Force Research Unit, which ran many of the collusion operations, would give evidence supporting Nelson.”

The Sinn Féin leader said that British Minister for Defence Tom King, who was Secretary of State for the North at the time of the killing of Pat Finucane, provided a letter of commendation for Nelson. British Prime Minister John Major held a meeting just before the trial with the North’s Lord Chief Justice, Brian Hutton, and the trial judge, Basil Kelly. “It is clear,” Gerry Adams said, “that there was significant knowledge among senior British ministers about Nelson's role as an agent of the British Government and that they moved to cover it up.”

The Sinn Féin leader also reveals that in conversation with PJ McGrory, who was his lawyer, the Belfast solicitor told him that the UDA was saying that the RUC was putting it under pressure to kill himself, Pat Finucane and Oliver Kelly. “PJ told me he briefed the Irish Government who said they would raise it with the NIO. Hours after Pat Finucane was killed, an Irish Government official was in PJ’s home speaking to him about the threats. “The then Taoiseach, Charlie Haughey, phoned and told PJ that he would take this matter up with Downing Street.”

The Sinn Féin leader posed a number of questions:

“Is there a record of PJ’s conversation with the Taoiseach and with other departmental officials?

“Did the Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, raise this matter with Downing Street or the NIO?

“What information has the Government on the many allegations of collusion than were being made then and since?”


Photo: New mural to
commemorate Pat Finucane

"Targeted by British Establishment -
Excecuted by Unionist Death Squads"


Information from

Irish Republican News,
12. December 2012

Press Association,
12. December 2012

An Phoblacht, 14. December 2012
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