A senior Loyalist has been arrested for questioning about the murder of Belfast solicitor, Pat Finucane. Mr Finucane was shot dead in front of his wife and family when gunmen burst into their house in north Belfast in February 1989.
The British government is under growing pressure to call an independent judicial inquiry into claims that RUC Special Branch and police informers colluded in the killing. A spokeswoman for the Stevens investigation said today that a man was detained in Belfast at 7.30am for questioning about the Finucane murder.
The man was arrested at his home at Fernhill Heights in the Glencairn estate and taken to Lisburn Police Station, to be questioned by members of the inquiry team headed by the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir John Stevens.
Last January UDA man, William Stobie, 49, was shot dead by former associates a fortnight after charges against him of murdering Mr Finucane were withdrawn. It was around this time that Ken Barrett, also a Loyalist from North Belfast, was taken into protective custody by the Stevens team.
He is now getting round-the-clock guard at a secret address in Britain. John White of the Ulster Political Research Group claimed this morning’s arrest was part of a relentless campaign by the security forces against Loyalists.
