A victim of a UDA bombing carried out by a former British soldier broke his 30-year silence last night to back demands for an international inquiry into state collusion – spanning the entire history of the troubles.
The man was seriously injured in the 1973 attack, more than 16 years before the murder of Pat Finucane which prompted the Stevens inquiry.
Sir John Stevens confirmed for the first time on Thursday that the RUC and British army colluded with the UDA in the murder of at least 26 Catholics.
Last night a Co Antrim man – who did not want to be identified – told his story for the first time, describing the Stevens probe as "the tip of the iceberg".
He was just 18-years-old when, on the morning of February 1 1973 his work colleague, father-of-five Patrick Eugene Heenan, was killed when a grenade was thrown into their bus as they travelled to the building site of a new Catholic primary school in east Belfast.
Ex-British soldier Albert 'Ginger' Baker – a member of a UDA gang with a reputation as notorious as that of the Shankill Butchers – was jailed after admitting his part in the killing and the murders of three Catholics the previous year.
His accomplice, UDA commander Edward McCreery, was gunned down by his former associates almost 10 years later after being suspected of colluding with the RUC.
In 1989 Baker contacted the Stevens I investigation over his claims that the security forces supplied intelligence to loyalist paramilitaries in the early seventies.
The survivor of one of his attacks last night said the full truth about collusion must not be prevented from coming out.
"I have bottled this up for 30 years for fear of reprisals," he said.
"Collusion started in the early seventies, it didn't just emerge in the eighties. What Stevens uncovered is only the tip of the iceberg.
"Most of us on the bus were insignificant. It takes someone high-profile like Pat Finucane or Rosemary Nelson to have been killed for them (the authorities) to take notice."
The man said he believed Baker "was probably one of the first British agents", and further alleged he was arrested soon after the bombing because he had become a "liability".
"When the UDA found out he was an agent, he was moved to prison in Scotland for his safety," he said.
"When they become a liability they (security forces) disown them (agents). He was becoming a rogue agent, like Brian Nelson was."
Calling for more relatives to speak out, he said: "I am satisfied that we are starting to get to the truth, but the British are always reluctant to disclose anything about their past.
"A commission to uncover the full truth is needed and it must go back as far as 1970. There is so much more they (security forces) are hiding."
Now 30 years, on the man says he still finds it very difficult to lay the ghosts of the past to rest.
"It is very difficult," he said.
"I didn't realise what was going on until one of the gang produced a gun.
"There was a flash and a large bang – everybody dived for cover. The force of the blast threw Paddy onto my legs, he was already dead. I will never forget it," he added.
On mounting calls for an international inquiry into state collusion, a NIO spokesman last night said: "We will wait and see what Judge (Peter) Cory has to say before we are in a position to comment further on the wider issue of collusion."
However, last night SDLP leader Mark Durkan said that the family of Pat Finucane and others should not have to wait until the autumn for the findings of Mr Cory's investigation.
He said the "only way forward" was for the British government to launch an immediate public inquiry into the killing.
