Solicitors acting on behalf of a loyalist charged with the 1989 murder of Pat Finucane have called for the case to be stopped claiming that a new book has prejudiced any chance of a fair trial.
Solicitors acting on behalf of Shankill loyalist Ken Barrett have written to the Attorney General claiming that allegations included in a new book detailing the activities of Johnny Adair and the UDA's notorious Shankill 'C' Company prejudices any hope Barrett has of a fair trial.
The book, Mad Dog, the Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and C Company, includes a chapter detailing the murder of Mr Finucane in which an unnamed loyalist, with the pseudonym 'Davy' claims to have been one of the two gunmen who shot Pat Fincuane dead in front of his wife and three children in February 1989.
In a letter to the Attorney General, Barrett's solicitor Joe Rice claims that detailed comments made in the book about Barrett's alleged involvement in the murder of Pat Finucane means that he now has no hope of a fair trial when he comes to court on November 21.
Meanwhile a spokesman for the Stevens team last night refused to reveal whether any attempt has been made to interview the book's authors, David Lister and Hugh Jordan, or to seize tapes or notes related to a face-to-face interview in the book with the loyalist who claims to have been the gunman who murdered the north Belfast solicitor.
