The UK government will not pursue public investigations into Pat Finucane’s murder

Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced on Monday that the British government will not pursue a public inquiry at this time into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane that took place more than 30 years ago.

On February 12, 1989, 39-year-old Pat Finucane, one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent human rights lawyers, was killed when masked gunmen knocked on the front door of his North Belfast home and shot him. 14 times ahead of his wife, Geraldine and three young children. The Finucana killers were loyal paramilitaries from the Ulster Defense Association, acting in conjunction with the British security services.

In one declaration released on November 30, the British Government said: After extensive consideration of all available options, the Government has decided not to establish a public inquiry into the murder of the lawyer in Belfast at this time. A review process is being conducted by the Northern Ireland Police Service Heritage Investigation Branch (PSNI) and investigations being conducted by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland are ongoing – both independently of the Government.

The Government acknowledged that the Supreme Court had concluded that there was still an Article 2 investigation into Mr Finucane’s death and had been working since the publication of the decision to assess how to better address the Court’s specific findings.

The Government is committed to reassessing whether a public inquiry is necessary to resolve any outstanding obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the light of the police review process and the investigations of the Police Ombudsman.

The government has also released further details today – not previously in the public domain – regarding previous investigations into the Finucane case. A report of a review conducted by PSNI in 2015 in light of the findings of the de Silva review has been shared with the family and will be published by PSNI in the coming days.

Addressing the British Parliament on Monday, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis said in part: The murder of Patrick Finucane was a horrific crime that has caused tremendous suffering. The UK Government is clear that the shocking levels of cooperation in this case are completely unacceptable and has publicly apologized for this happening.

Sadly, this case is an example of the violence and tragedy experienced by so many individuals and families during the Troubles, not just in Northern Ireland but throughout the UK and Ireland. It demonstrates the importance of ensuring that all families affected by the Trouble have an opportunity to discover the circumstances of the death of their loved ones.

We remain committed to working in partnership with the Irish Government, Northern Ireland parties and civil society, including victim groups, to find and deliver a progressive path forward in heritage to support NI in working towards a more positive future .

The decision not to pursue a public inquiry comes after four political parties in Northern Ireland Sinn Fin, the SDLP, the Alliance and the Greens the Irish government, and 24 members of the US Congress had backed the campaign for an investigation into Finucane’s murder.

Lewis added: I want to be clear. I am not taking the possibility of a public inquiry from the table at this stage. It is important that we allow the PSNI and Police Ombudsman processes to move forward and avoid the risk of prejudice to any outcome that arises from that work.

I will consider all options available to me to meet the obligations of governments.

PSNI says there is “no new line of inquiry”

After the speech by Lewis, PSNI chief Simon Byrne said in part: The decision to conduct a Public Inquiry is a matter for the Northern Ireland office and is outside the legal responsibilities of the Northern Ireland Police Service.

Due to the lack of any other solution for dealing with the past in Northern Ireland, the legal duty to investigate deaths during Trouble continues to remain with the Northern Ireland Police Service. For this reason, the murder of Mr. Finucane stands in our burden of heritage investigation branches. The Branch Case Ranking Model regularly brings deaths related to Problems for a review.

Following the publication of the de Silva review in 2012, we created a review of the de Silva Report to assess whether there was any unpaid action for the police. As a result of this review, we referred a number of issues to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. Four recommendations were also for the Police Service.

We also made contact with those responsible for developing de Silva’s review of the material described by de Silva as new and meaningful. After review by the Public Prosecution Service, it was concluded that this material did not provide a reliable opportunity to pursue criminal investigations.

The Northern Ireland office recently wrote to us to ask if there were any unresolved issues regarding Mr’s murder. Finucane. We confirmed that the case was within our case sequence model and would be due to its review and that the four recommendations to the police were exceptional after our internal review of de Silva.

View is our view that there are currently no new lines of inquiry. We now have to decide whether it deserves a further review given all the previous investigations into this matter. Once we have determined it, we will inform the Finucane Family. If we determine that a review should be done, then we will have to decide if we are in the best place to do that review. As it stands, it is unlikely that we will enjoy a perception of independence in this case, given the accepted position of State involvement in the matter. Therefore, it is very likely that any review will need to be done independently.

A review in itself is not an investigation. Any decision to investigate will only be made after the review process. Again, it is likely that any new investigation will have to be conducted independently. We should also be pleased that given the extensive work of Lord Stevens, Judge Cory and Sir Desmond de Silva, that a further investigation has a reasonable prospect of advancing the matter or bringing in more persons. before justice or by answering unanswered questions of the Finucane family and their ongoing search for justice.

The British government has again refused to hold a public inquiry into the murder of my fathers.

Their response today was nothing short of insulting.

My mother Geraldine Finucane’s full statement: pic.twitter.com/iJY8RY7Rwu

John Finucane MP (@johnfinucane) November 30, 2020

She added: By failing to reach a public inquiry into Pat Finucane’s murder, the British Government has not only taken action against my family but also the Irish Government, local, national and international political parties, political institutions, legal groups and human rights and internationally.

Pat Finucane’s murder has been described as not just an attack on a lawyer but an attack on the rule of law itself. The Secretary of State has told us today that the attack is continuing. They have clearly placed themselves against the rule of law by ignoring the highest court of their jurisdiction. They remain in violation of their international legal obligations, a shameful and unforgivable position to take over a sovereign government.

They have again shown that they do not intend to accept their role in the conflict here. Collaborating with the killers led not only to the murder of my husbands, but to many others as well. The extent and depth of this policy is what the British government is afraid of being exposed to. The result of our meeting today confirms it once again.

Finucane’s son John, who is a member of Sinn Fin and an MP for North Belfast, said he and his family are “very angry” and criticized the decision as “offensive:”