Official title: The response of the State to the murder of Patrick Finucane
In brief
- A taped admission by Ken Barrett disappeared; de Silva found this was deliberate.
- Special Branch recruited Barrett as an agent rather than seek his prosecution.
What this chapter covers
Chapter 23 looks at what the police, the Army and the Security Service did after the murder, and whether their response helped or hindered justice.
Key findings
- In October 1991 RUC detectives recorded Ken Barrett, a UDA member, making a qualified admission to the murder. The tape later disappeared. De Silva concluded that its disappearance was "a deliberate act designed to thwart the RUC CID".
- Later the same month RUC Special Branch recruited Barrett as an agent instead of seeking his prosecution, a decision de Silva found was taken consciously. Barrett was eventually convicted of the murder in 2004.
- The report describes a "relentless" effort to defeat the ends of justice after the killing, a phrase the Prime Minister used in his statement.
Why it matters
The chapter shows that the state's failings did not end with the murder. It is also the background to the later legal argument that no investigation had yet met the standard required by human-rights law.