The British government stood accused last night (Wednesday) of 'breaking its promises' to the families at the heart of three pending inquiries into allegations of collusion in the killings of their loved ones.
And a leading human rights campaigner has said that the "UK government is in the last chance saloon" as far as the make up and terms of reference for the inquiries are concerned.
Jane Winter, of British Irish Rights Watch, was speaking out after more details emerged of the format and terms of reference of the inquiries into the deaths of Catholic solicitor and mother of three Rosemary Nelson, Catholic father of two Robert Hamill and Billy Wright, LVF boss gunned down in the Maze Prison by the INLA in 1997.
Nelson was blown up in 1999 by a loyalist car bomb outside her Lurgan house and died of her injuries while Hamill died of injuries from a beating by a 20-strong loyalist mob which jumped on his head, allegedly while RUC officers sat in a jeep and watched, in Portadown in 1997.
The government has already decided to hold the Finucane inquiry under new legislation, according to sources. Last month loyalist 'big mouth' Ken Barrett, became the first man convicted in connection to his fatal shooting in 1989. Britain's top cop, Sir John Stevens, said there was collusion in his killing, although no one has ever been convicted for the killings of the two other Catholics.
The families have spoken of their fears that the government will break promises given to retired Canadian judge Peter Cory, who recommended public, international inquiries into all three killings, over allegations of security force collusion, as well as the killing of Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane.
Now the internationally-respected Winter, who advises the three families, says that the government has specifically broken promises given to them and a range of witnesses, at a meeting in July.
Along with the families at the meeting were NIO representatives, NGOs and lawyers and in the case of David Wright, father of Billy, DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson.
Winter said yesterday: "There were a lot of witnesses to what the government promised, and we all understood the NIO to say to the families categorically the families would be allowed to talk to the three separate judges about terms of reference and the panel members, before any final decisions were made.
"And the families have recently had letters from the NIO to say they will not be able to talk to the judges until after the decisions are made.
"This is quite an about-face, made up of broken promises, and is the consensus view and everybody has the same recollections and same notes of that July meeting.
"The government is not doing well in terms of capturing the confidence of the families in this whole process, and if they don't have theirs, they won't have that of the broader communities."
This week the SDLP and Sinn Féin also voiced fears that the aspects of the inquiries, as promised to Cory, and at the 2001 Weston Park talks to the parties and latterly to the families, were about to be reneged on.
Already the families have said they may not recognize inquiries if they fail to meet the established, understood and promised criteria.
Another human rights observer, close to the cases, went further yesterday, saying that no decisions have been made by the families to boycott the inquiries, which would allow the government 'off the hook'.
He pointed out that in breaching the promises the government has also possibly made the task of chairing the inquiries impossible for the eventual judges, who are expected to be announced within weeks.
He said: "They are making it difficult for the judges, walking into a situation where promises have already been broken. The judges will want to be seen as fair, independent and capable of delivering an acceptable investigation for each family, not one that is rigged to exclude sensitive security material on the NIO's word."
Winter added: "Meeting the terms promised to the families, who have already been through so much, is the last chance for the government to rescue any hope the families will have any confidence in this process.
"This is the last chance saloon for the government to restore faith in law and order in the north.
"I am calling on them to put into practice those commitments given to Cory, including on the Finucane killing, and honour the commitments made to the other three families last July, if they want to restore faith in the law in the north."
Eunan Magee, brother of the murdered Rosemary, told The Star: "We fear the British government is breaking its pledges to the families, which would be unforgivable."
An NIO spokesman said last night: "The Government has not reneged on our commitment to the families. When we met with the families we said we had hoped to have more detail for them by the end of September.
"We wrote to the families on 1 October with an update on progress towards establishing the inquiries. Good progress has been made but there is still a little way to go until the inquiries can begin w ork.
"The Lord Chief Justice (England & Wales) and The Lord President (Scotland) are working to find the 3 inquiry Chairs. That work is well advanced. Once the names have been confirmed to us we will meet with the Chairs and agree Terms of Reference with them. At the meetings with the Chairs we will be sharing with them all the comments that have been made by the families on the subject of Terms of Reference.
"As soon as the names of the inquiry Chairs and the Terms of Reference have been announced the families will of course be able to communicate directly with the Chairs and be able to discuss anything concerning the conduct or scope of the inquiries including tribunal members, Terms of Reference or procedures."
