Pat Finucane

On the second day of hearings legal counsel to the inquiry, barrister Matthew Hill, stated that: “There is no more serious question in a democratic society governed by the rule of law.”

Mr Finucane was shot dead by members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) while eating dinner with his family on 12 February 1989.  In 2004, former paramilitary and RUC special branch informer, Ken Barret pleaded guilty to the murder and spent three years in prison.

Mr Finucane’s family have long pushed for an inquiry into whether there was collusion in the solicitor’s murder, but this has been resisted by the UK government. A more limited review by Sir Desmond de Silva led to an apology from then Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012 having found “shocking levels of collusion”.

The terms of reference for the current inquiry were published by then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn in March of this year.

The terms require the inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the murder, identify those involved and their roles, consider whether the murder could have been prevented, and examine relevant acts or omissions by the state.

Mr Hill told the inquiry that it must consider the “stark explanation” that the interactions between the security forces and the UDA were the consequence of “a deliberate and directed action to use the UDA as a proxy to murder a lawyer who had incurred the enmity of the state”.