Stevens 'must lead to full inquiry'

Stevens 'must lead to full inquiry'

Mark Durkan said there should be a full independent inquiry

The truth behind security force collusion in Northern Ireland is even worse than that laid out in the Stevens report, SDLP leader Mark Durkan has said.

The party has called for a full independent inquiry into collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces to be established immediately.

A branch of British army intelligence and some police officers in Northern Ireland actively helped a loyalist paramilitary group to murder Catholics in the late 1980s, Sir John Stevens has said.

The latest report, called Stevens Three, found that members of the RUC and Army colluded with the largest loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to murder Catholics.

The report said informants and agents "were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes".

"I have uncovered enough evidence to lead me to believe that the murders of Pat Finucane and Brian Adam Lambert could have been prevented," said Sir John.

"I also believe that the RUC investigation of Pat Finucane's murder should have resulted in the early arrest and detection of his killers. I conclude there was collusion in both murders and the circumstances surrounding them."

On the specific issues of the Finucane and Lambert killings, which this report seems to have been the unofficial inquiry into, it makes it clear that today we are no further on than we were in 1989

Ian Paisley Jnr
DUP

Speaking after the publication of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner's report, Mr Durkan said it was "grave and alarming".

"We believe the murder of Pat Finucane was state-sponsored and sanctioned. Any police officers guilty of criminality have to be rigorously pursued."

Secretary of State Paul Murphy said the results of Sir John's ongoing investigations would be vigorously pursued, wherever they lead.

"Sir John's report raises very disturbing issues," he said.

"The fact that the events at the core of the investigations date back to the 80's does not diminish their seriousness.

"Material has been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions and it is important that the criminal justice process takes its course."

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen said the findings were of the utmost gravity.

"They raise issues about the involvement of agents of the state in a range of unlawful activities," he said.

The Democratic Unionist Party's Ian Paisley Jnr, a member of the Policing Board, said the report was "inconclusive on the issue of collusion".

In the late 1980s we were a lone voice along with the families of those killed in attempting to expose this scandal

Gerry Adams
Sinn Fein president

Stevens Report: At a glance

"It is definitive on the issue of institutionalised collusion - in other words, institutionalised collusion did not exist.

"On the specific issues of the Finucane and Lambert killings, which this report seems to have been the unofficial inquiry into, it makes it clear that today we are no further on than we were in 1989.

"There is not sufficient evidence to arrest or to charge any individual in Northern Ireland with those killings. We have go to ask what was that £10m inquiry about?"

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the report was "the tip of the iceberg".

He said when Sinn Fein first raised the issue of "the British policy of collusion" in the late 1980s "we were a lone voice along with the families of those killed in attempting to expose this scandal".

'Bereaved'

Former Ulster Unionist MP Lord Maginnis said the security forces faced a difficult job at the time of the alleged collusion.

Mark Thompson of the Relatives for Justice group said: "It's an absolute disgrace that the families who have been bereaved and who are being discussed in this report have been excluded.

"It's bad enough that only around 20 pages of this document is being published without us having to endure this sort of treatment."

WHAT IS COLLUSION?

Wilful failure to keep records

Absence of accountability

Withholding intelligence and evidence

Agents involved in murder

Amnesty International, British Irish Rights Watch and the Committee on the Administration of Justice urged the establishment of a a judicial hearing.

"Continuing to delay such an inquiry may well result in other key testimonies eventually avoiding public scrutiny," they said in a joint statement.