SDLP says Stevens report 'grave and alarming'

REACTION: SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan has called for a full judicial inquiry following the publication of parts of the Stevens…

REACTION:SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan has called for a full judicial inquiry following the publication of parts of the Stevens report, which he called "grave and alarming".

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

Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphy said the Stevens report raised very disturbing issues, and the fact that the events at the core of the investigation dated back to the 1980s did not diminish their seriousness.

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

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PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde said today the Police Service of Northern Ireland is a very different force to the one described in the Stevens report.

"I am probably the most accountable chief officer in the country certainly, if not in Europe," he said.

Members of the Rev Ian Paisley's hardline Democratic Unionist Party condemned the report.

Mr Ian Paisley Jr, who sits in the Northern Ireland Assembly, said: "We are concerned that this report will be used by certain elements to bludgeon and blacken the name of the police and to justify over 300 police killings in Northern Ireland".