Journalist challenges order on interview notes

Belfast County Court has heard that a man who was recently charged with the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, was not…

Belfast County Court has heard that a man who was recently charged with the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, was not charged when he allegedly confessed his role in the killing to the RUC nine years ago.

The disclosure was made yesterday by Det Chief Insp Richard Turner of the Metropolitan Police, who is working for the Stevens Inquiry which is re-investigating the murder amid allegations of RUC collusion.

Chief Insp Turner was giving evidence during an attempt by Sunday Tribune Northern Editor, Mr Ed Moloney, to overturn a court order demanding he surrender notes of his interview with Mr Billy Stobie in 1990. The notes are sought by the Stevens Inquiry. Mr Stobie was charged in June with murdering Mr Finucane. Mr Moloney is refusing to hand over his notes, saying it is not the job of a journalist to act as a police officer. He is also arguing that the authorities had the same material in their possession for many years but chose not to act on it.

He is being supported by the National Union of Journalists, which mounted a picket outside Belfast County Court sitting at Antrim. Those taking part included The Irish Times, RTE and BBC journalists; NUJ Irish secretary, Mr Eoin Ronayne, and Mr Tom Gillen, the acting Northern Ireland officer for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

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Mr Moloney was accompanied into court by the Sunday Tribune editor, Mr Matt Cooper.

The right of a journalist to protect their sources is part of the NUJ's code of conduct. More than 100 letters of support have been sent to Mr Moloney from media colleagues.

Mr Finucane was murdered by the UDA in 1989. Mr Stobie has claimed he was an RUC informer while involved in the UDA. Chief Insp Turner said Mr Stobie confessed his involvement in the murder during 32 interviews in seven days with the RUC in 1990. Despite the alleged admission and a file being sent to the DPP, he was never charged.

Chief Insp Turner said Mr Stobie had admitted supplying one of the weapons used to murder Mr Finucane and disposing of it afterwards. When asked by Mr Michael Lavery QC, for Mr Moloney, why no action was taken by the RUC against Mr Stobie in 1990, Chief Insp Turner said it was not for him to "judge" or to "pass comment".

When he was rearrested this summer by the Stevens team, Mr Stobie made no such admission but was charged with involvement in the murder, largely based on the evidence of Mr Neil Mulholland, a former Sunday Life journalist, who had also interviewed him in 1990.

Mr Mulholland is now a Northern Ireland Office press officer. He provided the Stevens Inquiry with a statement and notes of his original interview. Counsel for the Crown Solicitor's Office, Mr David McAllister, said the police wanted Mr Moloney's notes to corroborate Mr Mulholland's evidence and advance the murder inquiry.

Mr Lavery said they would gain nothing new from his client's notes and it would breach journalistic ethics to hand them over.

Judge Anthony Hart deferred judgment after the day-long hearing. He is expected to give his decision later this week.

Outside the court, Mr Moloney said even if the judgment went against him, he was prepared to go to prison rather than hand over his notes. "The job of a journalist is to report events, not gather evidence on behalf of the state."

He said he would be unable to earn a living as a journalist if he complied with the Stevens Inquiry, as his sources would no longer talk to him and he would be at risk of paramilitary violence.

"I am prepared to go to prison. I don't have any choice. The alternative is worse, it is losing my livelihood." He described the support of his media colleagues as "absolutely fantastic".