Supreme Court rules British government investigation into murder of Irish human rights lawyer Pat Finucane not properly carried out

Patrick Finucane (21 March 1949 – 12 February 1989), was an Irish human rights lawyer killed by loyalist paramilitaries acting in collusion with the British government intelligence service MI5.  He was aged 39 when he was killed in front of his wife and three children on 12 February 1989 after two masked loyalist paramilitaries knocked down the front door of his house in Belfast and shot him 14 times. Now the Supreme Court has ruled that a British government investigation into the murder was not properly carried out. The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for civil cases, and for criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The family of Pat Finucane have been campaigning for 30 years to get truth and justice.  An investigation into the murder by former UN war crimes prosecutor Sir Desmond de Silva QC found "shocking" levels of state collusion involving the  British army, police and MI5 (British domestic counter-intelligence and security agency). Geraldine Finucane, widow of the murdered man, claimed the British government unlawfully "reneged" on a promise to hold a public inquiry into the killing when former British prime minister David Cameron instead ordered an independent review. Speaking outside the court, Mrs Finucane said: "This is a historic moment. I stand before you today outside the United Kingdom Supreme Court with one simple message: we won."

She went on to say: "The British government now knows that it cannot conceal the truth any longer. They have now been told this by the highest court in the land.

"It is time for the murder of Pat Finucane to be properly and publicly investigated in a public inquiry. Nothing less will suffice."