The official investigation into the 1989 murder of the Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, one of the most notorious killings of the Troubles, was ineffective and failed to meet the standards required under human rights law, the supreme court has ruled.

In a unanimous judgment, five justices said the investigation carried out by Sir Desmond de Silva in 2011 was frustrated by his inability to compel witnesses to testify about the killing. The court did not, however, order a public inquiry and has left it up to the government to decide whether further investigation is needed.

Finucane, 39, a Belfast lawyer who represented a number of high-profile republicans, was shot dead in front of his family by loyalist gunmen who forced their way into his Belfast home 30 years ago this month in an attack found to have involved state collusion.

Lawyers for his widow, Geraldine Finucane, have argued that the decision to hold only a paper-based review of the killing rather than a public hearing led to there being no effective scrutiny of the murder.

After Finucane’s death it emerged that the loyalist paramilitary intelligence officer responsible for directing Ulster Defence Association attacks, Brian Nelson, was an agent controlled by the British army’s force research unit.

A senior police officer, John Stevens, conducted a series of investigations into the murder. In 2001, political agreement between the UK and Irish governments established that an international judge would investigate the Finucane killing, among others. It was agreed that an inquiry would be held into Finucane’s murder, but that decision was reversed in 2010 when David Cameron’s government came to power.

Under article 2 of the European convention on human rights, states have not only a duty not to kill people but also an obligation to carry out effective investigations into deaths.

Delivering judgment, Lord Kerr, a supreme court judge and former lord chief justice of Northern Ireland, said the critical point was whether an effective investigation had taken place. That “has not occurred”, he said.

De Silva’s conclusions were “not criticised for their failure to to identify the people involved”. Rather, the court said, it was a matter that “if he had been able to compel witnesses; if he had been able to probe their accounts; if he had been given the chance to press those whose testimony might have led to identification of those involved in targeting Mr Finucane … [then] one might have concluded that all means possible to identify those involved had been deployed.”

The court continued: “Absent those vital steps, the conclusion that an article 2-compliant inquiry into Mr Finucane’s death has not yet taken place is inescapable.”

Kerr concluded: “I would therefore make a declaration that there has not been an article 2-compliant inquiry into the death of Patrick Finucane. It does not follow that a public inquiry of the type which [his widow] seeks must be ordered.

“It is for the state to decide, in the light of the incapacity of Sir Desmond de Silva’s review and inquiries which preceded it to meet the procedural requirement of article 2, what form of investigation, if indeed any is now feasible, is required in order to meet that requirement.”

Finucane was having supper with his wife and three children on a Sunday evening when gunmen burst into their north Belfast home and shot him no fewer than 14 times.

Kerr said: “His devoted widow, Geraldine, and [their] children have waged a relentless campaign to have a proper investigation conducted into the circumstances of Mr Finucane’s murder.



“It became clear at an early stage that those responsible for killing Mr Finucane were so-called loyalists. Before long it also emerged that there was collusion between Mr Finucane’s murderers and members of the security forces.”



Since then, Kerr said, investigations had “not uncovered the identity of those members of the security services who engaged in the collusion nor the precise nature of the assistance they gave to the murderers”.

Outside the court, Geraldine Finucane said the ruling was a victory for the family. Although the judges had not ordered the government to hold a public inquiry, she said, their conclusions pointed to the inevitable necessity of holding one.

“The public inquiry that my family and I have fought for over three decades has moved closer through this great victory today. My family and I have endured three private police investigations, two confidential documentary reviews, secret government negotiations and a long and difficult court case,” she said. “And today we face the world with one simple message: we have won.

“This started off by just asking questions about the murder of Pat and gradually, as more information came to light, the word ‘collusion’ came into parlance and so many people realised it affected them too. Other people need to know the truth as well. It’s not just about closure for us, it affects all of our community.”

Sinn Féin’s president, Mary Lou McDonald, said: “Today’s judgment is a watershed moment in the campaign for access to truth and justice about collusion. At Weston Park in 2001, the British government agreed to a public inquiry into Pat’s murder. That has not yet happened.

“The British government should now immediately fulfil its obligation to hold a public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane.”

The chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Les Allamby, welcomed the verdict. “The commission calls upon the government to set out clearly how it will remedy this failure without any further delay,” he said.

Peter Madden, a Belfast solicitor and former partner of Patrick Finucane, said: “The decision taken by David Cameron to hold a review [rather than a public inquiry] has been overturned by the supreme court. So it’s back to the British government to decide what they are going to do instead to comply with the article 2 requirements [ for an effective investigation].”

Yasmine Ahmed, the director of Rights Watch (UK), which has been advocating for a public inquiry since the murder, said: “The road to justice has been 30 years long, but today marks a significant victory.

“The government, who in 2012 accepted shocking levels of collusion between the government and paramilitaries in relation to Finucane’s murder, is now required to establish an inquiry that is genuinely effective and independent that can lead to the identification and punishment of those responsible.”