British prime minister David Cameron has been accused by the family of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane of reneging on an agreement to order a public inquiry into his death.
His widow Geraldine Finucane branded Mr Cameron “dishonourable” after he established a review led by a lawyer into the killing, which involved state collusion with the loyalist killers.
A masked gang from the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) shot the solicitor in front of his wife and three children as they ate dinner in their north Belfast home in 1989. It later emerged the security forces were linked to the murder.
Mr Cameron told the family of his decision at Downing Street on Tuesday.
Mrs Finucane said: “Not only were my family and I forced to listen to the prime minister of Britain renege on a promise made by the British government, we had to hear him tell us, over and over, what it was that we really wanted, how we wanted to achieve it and what our ultimate response would be.
“It was clear within minutes that we had been lured to Downing Street under false pretences by a disreputable government led by a dishonourable man.”
When he was prime minister, Tony Blair agreed to establish an inquiry, but a fresh investigation did not begin after a dispute with the family over the government’s powers to control it.
It followed reports by former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens and Canadian judge Peter Cory which concluded that collusion had occurred.
Mrs Finucane led a press conference in Belfast today with her son John and lawyer Peter Madden. She said the family had no confidence in the process which Mr Cameron had established.
“We cannot be expected to take the British prime minister’s word that it will be effective when he is reneging on a Government commitment in order to establish it,” she said.
“His actions prove beyond doubt that the word of the British Prime Minister is not to be trusted.
“The case of Pat Finucane shows that British prime ministers no longer keep their promises.”