Legal action in Finucane case

Pat Finucane was killed by loyalists in his home in 1989

The family of a murdered Belfast solicitor has begun legal action against a senior police officer they claim failed to provide documentary material about the killing after an offier to do so.

The family of Pat Finucane, a Catholic, who was murdered in February 1989, is taking the action against Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens.

The loyalist paramilitary Ulster Freedom Fighters/Ulster Defence Association said it killed Mr Finucane.

Nationalists have always alleged security force collusion in the shooting.

William Stobie is charged with murdering Pat Finucane

Mr Stevens headed the special inquiry team set up to investigate these allegations and he led the Finucane murder investigation.

On Tuesday, it emerged that Mr Finucane's widow, Geraldine, had lodged judicial review proceedings against Mr Stevens.

She said Hugh Orde, who leads the day-to-day running of the investigation, wrote to her offering any support she needed during the trial of William Stobie, the man accused of her husband's murder.

Geraldine Finucane: "It is normal to tell victims if a case is to start"

But she said the police chief had refused to let her see any relevant documentation.

"I believe that when someone is to be prosecuted for murder that it is usual to tell victim's family that this is about to happen," Mrs Finucane said.

"I have not been informed about anything and I think it is only right in this particular case where there is so much at stake that I should be informed of what is going on."

"It is nothing short of astonishing that while Mr Stobie, the prosecution, the police, the trial judge and others have access to voluminous documentation, the victim's family is being provided with absolutely nothing," she added.

Mr Finucane's family has consistently refused to acknowledge the Stevens inquiry and is demanding a judicial inquiry into the murder.

Meanwhile, the trial of Mr Stobie, an ex-Ulster Defence Association quartermaster, has been adjourned.

Sir John Stevens is to face legal proceedings

Lawyers for Mr Stobie, who has confessed to working as a police informer, were due to apply to have the trial halted.

His defence barrister announced his intention to lodge an abuse of process, claiming no new evidence against the 51-year-old north Belfast man had emerged in a decade.

However, the case was adjourned on Tuesday because the judge was ill.

Stobie denies murdering Mr Finucane through aiding and abetting, counselling and procuring.

He has also been charged with the murder of 19-year-old County Fermanagh man Adam Lambert in 1987.