British Government not ordering public inquiry into Pat Finucane murder

The British Government has decided not to order an immediate public inquiry into north Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane’s murder.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Police Ombudsman investigations into the 1989 loyalist paramilitary shooting are to go ahead.

Mr Finucane, a 39-year-old solicitor who represented republican and loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles, was shot dead in his family home in north Belfast in February 1989 by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in an attack found to have involved collusion with the state.

Mr Finucane’s widow Geraldine and the couple’s three children have been campaigning for decades for a public inquiry to establish the extent of security force involvement.

Last year, the Supreme Court said all previous examinations of the death had not been compliant with human rights standards.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said he met the Finucane family on Monday.

“I advised them of my decision not to establish a public inquiry at this time,” he said.