THE FAMILY of a Belfast solicitor who was murdered in 1989 have walked out of a meeting with the British prime minister David Cameron, after he ruled out holding an inquiry into his murder.
Pat Finucane was killed by loyalist paramilitaries who stormed his north Belfast home and shot him at his dinner table, while his wife and three children looked on.
His death was one of the most high-profile deaths in the troubles, due to his work as a leading solicitor for high-profile republicans.
An Ulster Freedom Fighter who was convicted of his murder in 2004 has suggested Finucane was an IRA officer; UTV News reports that there were allegations of collusion between the UFF and the security forces in his death.
His family have spent decades campaigning for an independent inquiry into his death, and had met David Cameron in Downing Street today hoping to have one established, as had been promised by Tony Blair during his time in office.
Their meeting ended with the family walking out, however, when Cameron instead proposed a review conducted by a leading QC, Desmond DeSilva.
The BBC reported that Finucane’s family felt “insulted” by the proposal, and would continue their quest for an independent inquiry.
“I’m so angry, I can barely speak,” Finucane’s widow Geraldine said. “He [Cameron] wants a QC to read the papers in my husband’s case and that is how he expects to reach the truth.”
A spokeswoman for Downing Street said Cameron had shared police evidence with the Finucanes which had demonstrated a degree of state collusion in the murder, and had expressed his “profound sympathy”.
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