SF calls again for inquiry into Finucane death

Sinn Fein has again called for an independent inquiry into the murder of the Belfast solicitor Mr Pat Finucane after it was reported that police believe they have identified the loyalist gang involved in his murder. The London Independent reported yesterday that police evidence had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the North identifying six people allegedly involved in the 1989 UDA murder of Mr Finucane at his home in Belfast.

Three members of the group which carried out the murder and a three-man backup team are named in the files sent to the DPP, according to the newspaper. Evidence was also gathered that supported allegations that the RUC failed to act on a warning that could have saved Mr Finucane's life, it added.

Neither the police investigating the murder nor the DPP's office would comment. The DPP's office did say, however, that files had been submitted to its office by the Stevens team investigating the murder. It said the matter remained under consideration and that Mr William Stobie (48) had already been charged in connection with the murder.

The newspaper reported that two of the six people named in the files to the DPP are accused of firing 13 shots into Mr Finucane in front of his family at his home in 1989. A third man is named as the getaway driver, while three others are identified as keeping watch outside the house in another car.

In June last year Mr Stobie, from Forthriver Road, Belfast, was charged with Mr Finucane's murder. He was freed on bail in October. He says he was an informer for the RUC Special Branch at the time. He claims he told his handlers that the UDA was about to kill a senior republican figure, although he did not know who.

During a legal attempt last year to force a Sunday Tribune journalist, Ed Moloney, to hand over notes relating to the killing, a member of the Stevens team said that in 1990 Mr Stobie confessed to his involvement in the killing but was never charged.

Mr Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Fein North Belfast MLA, said the case for an independent inquiry into the killing had been strengthened. "The fact that the Stevens team have charged one man and sent files on another six to the DPP shows clearly that the RUC were never interested in investigating the killing of Pat Finucane," he said.