27/03/2002

Pat Finucane inquiry team arrest senior UDA man

A senior loyalist paramilitary has been arrested for questioning about the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

PSNI officers arrested the leading member of the Ulster Defence Association in the early hours of Wednesday March 27.

He was arrested at his home at Fernhill Heights in the Glencairn estate and taken to Lisburn police station, County Antrim, to be questioned by members of the inquiry team headed by the Metropolitan police commissioner Sir John Stevens.

Pat Finucane was shot dead in front of his wife and family when gunmen burst into their house in north Belfast in February 1989.

His family have claimed collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces in the murder and repeatedly called for a public inquiry.

His arrest follows the murder in January of another UDA man, William Stobie, 49, who was shot dead allegedly by former associates two weeks after charges against him of murdering Mr Finucane were withdrawn.

It was around this time that Ken Barrett, also a loyalist paramilitary from north Belfast, was taken into protective custody by the Stevens team. He is now getting a round-the-clock guard at a secret address in Britain. (AMcE)

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