Mr John Stevens, now deputy commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, is back in Northern Ireland for the third time in 10 years to investigate matters many of which follow from the activities of UDA intelligence officer and British army agent Brian Nelson.
His role this time is to carry out a fresh criminal investigation into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane and allegations of British army and/or RUC collusion in his killing. It's likely that he will be interviewing Nelson as part of his inquiries, and hundreds of others if they will talk to him.
Nationalists are still demanding an independent international inquiry.
Mr Stevens' investigations in late 1989 and the early to mid-1990s primarily dealt with security force files about potential republican assassination targets falling into the hands of loyalist paramilitaries. He found evidence of a "small number" of individual security force members passing on information but said such collusion was "neither widespread nor institutionalised".
Those investigations, as he revealed at a press conference in Belfast yesterday, also pointed to a link to the murder of Mr Finucane. He reported his concerns at the time to the Northern Ireland Director of Public Prosecutions and to the then RUC chief constable, Sir Hugh Annesley. No prosecutions followed from those concerns. The DPP at the time felt there was insufficient evidence to bring charges, according to a report into allegations of RUC harassment and intimidation of defence lawyers in the North by the special UN rapporteur, Mr Param Curamaswamy.
Mr Stevens stressed yesterday - "Day 1", as he described it - was his first day actually to investigate the Finucane murder and the attendant allegations of British army and/or RUC collusion. While his previous investigations raised concerns about the Finucane murder, he was then acting to a different brief.
Mr Stevens did not specifically explain the link-up between his investigations of 1989 and the 1990s to the Finucane murder, but he confirmed to The Irish Times he was aware of Brian Nelson stating that he warned his British army handlers the UDA was planning to murder Mr Finucane. In 1992, Nelson was sentenced to 10 years in prison on five charges of conspiracy to murder.
Asked was he aware of any information indicating the RUC also knew of the threat, Mr Stevens said at the time there was no "elucidation" of that claim. He explained he was asked to carry out his current investigation by the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, based on reports into the Finucane murder by the London-based British Irish Rights Watch and by Mr Curamaswamy.
Mr Stevens will be likely to focus on a particular aspect of Mr Curamaswamy's report where he refers to Nelson stating in his prison diary he had informed his military handlers as early as December 1988 that Mr Finucane was being targeted by the UDA. His diary also stated that he provided a photograph of Mr Finucane to a UDA assassin a few days before the murder on February 12th, 1989.
His British army handler, "Col J", said during his trial that essential information provided by Nelson was always passed on to the RUC. "We would run the agent - he was always our agent - and we would be responsible for passing on the information to the RUC, which we did in all cases," said "Col J".
The RUC was yesterday referring all queries about the original investigation to Mr Stevens' inquiry but, according to Mr Curamaswamy, the RUC denied "any information obtained by Nelson concerning the planned assassination of Patrick Finucane had been passed on to the police".
Part of Mr Stevens' brief will be to establish the authenticity of Nelson's claims about the plan to murder Mr Finucane. He must also try to discover whether the RUC was aware of the plot.
Mr Curamaswamy said earlier this month from material he had seen there was "at least prima-facie evidence" of British army and/or RUC collusion in Mr Finucane's killing. It is understood this evidence mainly comes from the British Irish Rights Watch report, Deadly Intelligence.
Mr Stevens may also refer to a report in the Irish News in March, where Mr Paul O'Connor, of the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, said he had been informed the RUC was told of the plan, but only hours before the murder.
"Two years ago a former member of the Police Authority told me that the RUC in general and former Special Branch head Brian Fitzsimons in particular had no prior knowledge of the plot to murder Pat Finucane. I disagreed and to my amazement was then told the RUC did have prior knowledge, but only hours beforehand when they were told by the army who were trying to cover their backs," said Mr O'Connor.
Mr Stevens said he would carry out a security sweep of his investigation headquarters in Carrickfergus, implicitly to ensure his offices are not bugged. When Mr Stevens previously worked out of Carrickfergus there was a suspicious fire in his offices that destroyed statements and exhibits.
He said his team would have access to all the remaining files and exhibits, adding that his current case could be assisted by the significant developments in the past 10 years in forensic science, including DNA testing.
Mr Stevens said his inquiry is likely to take months to complete. He was aware of the Finucane family's refusal to co-operate with the inquiry, but insisted it will be independent. He stressed that the RUC will not be involved and that his team will comprise 20 officers from English police forces.
Mr O'Connor said yesterday that a "Stevens Inquiry Mark III is a non-starter". The Finucane family also refused to co-operate. Mr Alex Attwood, SDLP Assembly member for West Belfast, said the Stevens inquiry was "inadequate and not credible".