(Editorial, Irish News)

It has taken 14 long, frustrating, torturous years for an official report to finally admit that Pat Finucane was murdered as a result of collusion between security forces and the UDA.

And while this finding will surprise no-one who has monitored each devastating twist in this complex case, the fact that the most senior police officer in Britain has stood up and stated it must be regarded as a significant development.

Sir John Stevens has gone further than any other official figure in pointing the finger at the RUC and the British army and accusing elements within both organisations of acting outside the law.

In the 14 years that he has been investigating collusion, he has amassed a vast amount of evidence and believes he knows who killed Pat Finucane.

But the inescapable fact is that 14 years and three inquiries have not led to the murderers being put behind bars and, with the deaths of key figures such as Brian Nelson and William Stobie, the truth behind this murky episode appears as elusive as ever.

The findings Sir John Stevens made public yesterday are certainly unprecedented, but they shed only a tiny chink of light on the dark forces at work within the security services in the eighties and nineties and before the much-needed police reforms which bring an accountability absent then.

His short report and comments to the press paint a shocking picture, but serve only to demonstrate the shortcomings of his investigation.

So much key information was not revealed, leading to many more questions.

We are not told the names of the officers involved in collusion, who knew what and how far the chain of command reached, including any political knowledge.

Neither are we told who were the senior RUC officers who briefed home office minister Douglas Hogg, leading him to make the damaging statement that some solicitors were "unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA", just weeks before the murder of Pat Finucane.

There are many people convinced that their relatives were the victims of collusion but again we are not told who or how many died as a result of this nefarious activity.

Perhaps the ultimate weakness of this investigation is that, despite all the evidence and Sir John's professed view, the final say on which individuals – if any – will be prosecuted lies not with him but with the DPP and the Attorney General.

A sceptical public will wonder if the guilty will ever be brought to justice.

Sir John Stevens has issued a damning indictment of the attitudes and activities of the police Special Branch and the army's Force Research Unit, but the impression remains that an impenetrable world has successfully retained many of its secrets.

Only an independent inquiry with full judicial powers – which the Irish News has called for many times over the years – can reach all parts of this sinister world and uncover the truth behind the murder of Pat Finucane and so many others.

This article appeared first in the April 18, 2003 edition of the Irish News.

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