Pat Finucane

Patrick Finucane (21 March 1949 – 12 February 1989) was an Irish lawyer who specialised in criminal defence work.

One of his brothers, John who was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member, was killed in a car crash on the Falls Road in 1972.

He graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1973.

Seamus was the leader of an IRA unit in west Belfast before his arrest in 1976 with Bobby Sands and seven other IRA men, during an attempt to destroy Balmoral's furniture store in south Belfast.

He was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment.

Finucane's wife, Geraldine, whom he met at Trinity College, is the daughter of middle-class Protestants; together they had three children.

Finucane came to prominence due to his successful challenge of the British government in several important human rights cases during the 1980s.

He was killed by loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), acting in collusion with British security services.

He also represented other IRA and Irish National Liberation Army hunger strikers who died during the 1981 Maze prison protest, Brian Gillen, and the widow of Gervaise McKerr, one of three men shot dead by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in a shoot-to-kill incident in 1982.

Another brother, Dermot, successfully contested attempts to extradite him to Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland for his alleged part in the killing of a prison officer; he was one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped from the Maze in 1983.

In 1986, he represented Brenda Downes the widow of John Downes a civilian killed by a plastic bullet during a anti-internment rally in Belfast.

A third brother, Seamus, was the fiancé of Mairead Farrell, one of the IRA trio shot dead by the Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar in March 1988.

In 1988, he represented Pat McGeown, who was charged in connection with the Corporals killings, and was photographed with McGeown outside Crumlin Road Courthouse.

On 12 February 1989, Finucane was shot dead at his home in Fortwilliam Drive, north Belfast, by Ken Barrett and another masked man using a Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol and a .38 revolver respectively.

He was hit 14 times.

The two gunmen knocked down the front door with a sledgehammer and entered the kitchen where Finucane had been having a Sunday meal with his family; they immediately opened fire and shot him twice, knocking him to the floor.

Then while standing over him, the leading gunman fired 12 bullets into his face at close range.

Finucane's wife Geraldine was slightly wounded in the shooting attack which their three children witnessed as they hid underneath the table.

The RUC immediately launched an investigation into the killing.

The senior officer heading the CID team was Detective Superintendent Alan Simpson, who set up a major incident room inside the RUC D Division Antrim Road station.

Simpson's investigation ran for six weeks and he later stated that from the beginning, there had been a noticeable lack of intelligence coming from the other agencies regarding the killing.

This was one result of the agreement made between the British and Irish governments at Weston Park in 2001.

They agreed to appoint an international judge that would review Finucane's case and if evidence of collusion was found, a public inquiry would be recommended.

The British government reneged on this promise to Finucane's family after the international judge found evidence of collusion.

Finucane's wife Geraldine declared in court papers that UK Prime Minister David Cameron stated, at a meeting with Finucane's family in London, that: "It is true that the previous administration could not deliver a public inquiry and neither can we. There are people in buildings all around here who won't let it happen."

Two public investigations concluded that elements of the British security forces colluded in Finucane's murder and there have been high-profile calls for a public inquiry.

In September 2004, Ken Barrett, an UDA member who was recruited as an informer by the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Branch after confessing to the shooting, pleaded guilty to his murder.

After significant international pressure, the British government eventually announced a public inquiry.

In 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron met with Pat Finucane's family and apologised for the collusion.

Finucane's killing was one of the most controversial during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

He was shot fourteen times as he sat eating a meal at his Belfast home with his three children and his wife, who was also wounded during the attack.

However, in October 2011, it was announced that a planned public inquiry would be replaced by a less wide-ranging review.

This review, led by Sir Desmond de Silva, released a report in December 2012 acknowledging that the case entailed "a wilful and abject failure by successive Governments".

Finucane's family called the De Silva report a "sham".

Finucane was born into a prominent republican family on the Falls Road, Belfast.

He was the eldest child, with six brothers—John, Liam, Gerard, Seamus, Martin and Dermot–and a sister, Rosaleen.

At the start of the Troubles, his family was forced out of their home.

His son John is a Sinn Féin politician who was elected as Lord Mayor of Belfast in May 2019 and was elected MP for Belfast North in December 2019.

Finucane was also a footballer and played as a striker in the Irish League for Crusaders and Distillery.

Pat Finucane's best-known client was the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.