The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has added its support to calls for an independent inquiry into the killing of the Belfast solicitor, Mr Pat Finucane, saying that the current inquiry headed by Sir John Stevens does "not seem wide-ranging enough".
Mr Finucane was shot dead outside his north Belfast home by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989, leading to allegations of security force collusion in his death.
The Chief Commissioner of the commission, Prof Brice Dickson, yesterday said they had decided to back the call for an independent inquiry after meeting members of the Finucane family and some of their legal representatives, and meeting representatives of the Stevens inquiry team.
"It is now fairly obvious that only an independent judicial inquiry can properly get to the bottom of the range of issues which this murder has thrown up," Prof Dickson said. "The inquiries being undertaken by Sir John Stevens's team do not seem to be wide-ranging enough to address those issues." Prof Dickson said Sir John's record "did not inspire confidence" among commission members. After the first Stevens inquiry, only a summary of Sir John's report was published, while after the second inquiry no formal public report was issued. This time, it was not even clear whether Sir John was reporting to the RUC Chief Constable or the Director of Public Prosecutions, Prof Dickson added.
"We are not totally confident, given that Sir John is now the head of the London Metropolitan Police, that all the lines thrown up by the British Irish Rights Watch report are being followed up," he said.
The commission intended to write to the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, seeking a response to the yet unpublished report on Mr Finucane's death.
"The report by British Irish Rights Watch, which was handed to the [British] government more than a year ago, has still not elicited the kind of detailed response which all concerned are entitled to expect."