The UK Supreme Court has today ruled that the British Government has failed to meet its obligation to hold a human rights compliant inquiry into the 1989 murder of solicitor Pat Finucane. The court ruled that the De Silva review, which established substantial state collusion in the killing, did not meet this test because it was unable to cross-examine witnesses.
Some early press reports nevertheless interpreted the ruling as a defeat for the Finucane family because the court declined to directly order a new public inquiry. However, in a statement, the family's solicitors said the Government would now be left with no alternative but to order a new inquiry, to meet it's obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
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