The appointment of a retired Canadian judge to investigate six controversial killings in the North has been confirmed. Mr Peter Cory will investigate the six murders, in which security force involvement has been alleged.
The murders of Belfast-based solicitor Mr Pat Finucane, Lurgan-based solicitor Rosemary Nelson, the Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill, LVF leader Billy Wright and Lord Justice and Lady Gibson as well as two RUC superintendents will each be investigated by the judge.
The judge was jointly appointed by the Irish and British governments which agreed on the appointment at last year’s Weston Park negotiations.
Relatives of some of the victims including Mr Finucane, who was shot dead by the loyalist UDA at his Belfast home in 1989 and Rosemary Nelson, who died in a booby-trap car bomb attack at her home in Lurgan in 1999, have called for full judicial inquiries.
The judge will examine each case and will decide if they merit full judicial inquiries.