What Volume II is
Volume II of the Report of the Patrick Finucane Review reproduces key documents that Sir Desmond de Silva relied on. The government had committed in November 2011 to publish underlying material, including classified intelligence, so that readers could test the review's conclusions for themselves. The report describes this in chapter 1.
The documents include intelligence reports, records of contact between agents and their handlers, internal Army, police and Security Service correspondence, and papers that went to ministers. Names and some details are redacted or replaced by ciphers to protect individuals.
Old links to individual PDFs
When the review had its own website, each Volume II document had its own PDF address under /report/volume02/. Those files are not hosted here. Old links now come to this page. To read the documents, use the official copy of the full report on GOV.UK, where Volume II follows Volume I in the same publication.
Reading the documents with care
Intelligence documents record what a source said or what an officer believed at the time. They are not findings of fact. The review weighed them against other evidence and explains in its chapters how much reliance it placed on each. Some commentators, including a 2013 analysis published by Statewatch, have argued that the review was too ready to accept some official accounts; others regarded its publication of raw intelligence as unusually open. Reading a document alongside the chapter that discusses it is the best way to understand it.
Where documents are discussed
- Brian Nelson's recruitment and activities: chapter 6 and chapter 7
- Leaks of security force information to the UDA: chapter 11
- Threat intelligence about Pat Finucane: chapter 16
- The first Stevens investigation: chapter 24