Key events in the Finucane family's fight for a public inquiry
The murder of Pat Finucane was one of the most high profile and contentious cases during Northern Ireland's Troubles.
The Fin
ucane family have mounted a decades long campaign for answers insisting only a full public inquiry will be acceptable to them.
On Wednesday 11 September, Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn confirmed that an independent inquiry will go ahead.
What happened to Pat Finucane?
Mr Finucane, a high-profile solicitor, was killed in his home in north Belfast on 12 February 1989 by the Ulster Defence Association.
The 39 year-old was shot dead by loyalist paramilitary gunmen in front of his wife and three children.
The attack was found by a series of probes to have involved state collusion.
What investigations have been carried out into Pat Finucane's murder so far?
Almost a decade after Pat Finucane was murdered, the UK Government rejected a United Nations call for an independent inquiry.
Twelve months later, former Met police commissioner, Sir John Stevens, was appointed to carry out an investigation.
A month after his appointment, former UDA quartermaster William Stobie who supplied the murder weapon, was charged with Finucane's killing but the case against him collapsed when a key witness refused to give evidence.
Two months later, Stobie was killed by a loyalist gunman.
Former Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir John Stevens, eventually published a report in 2003 that found rogue elements within the police and army had helped loyalist paramilitaries murder Catholics in the late 1980s.
That same year, a second loyalist, Ken Barrett, plead guilty to Mr Finucane’s murder and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Two years after he was appointed to investigate allegations of collusion into several Troubles killings, retired Canadian Judge Peter Cory concluded that police and military intelligence knew of the murder plot.
In June 2007, the Public Prosecution Service announced that no police or soldiers would be charged in connection with the murder citing insufficient evidence.
Five years later, then Prime Minister David Cameron apologised to the Finucane family following a scathing report by leading QC Sir Desmond de Silva which blamed agents of the state for the killing.
The former war crimes lawyer revealed that special branch repeatedly failed to warn Pat Finucane of the threat to his life.
Three years later at the High Court in Belfast, the Finucane family lost a judicial review of the Prime Minister's decision to rule out a public inquiry.
What has led to today's decision?
Pat Finucane's widow Geraldine and the couple’s three children, including Sinn Féin MP for North Belfast John Finucane, have been campaigning for decades for an independent inquiry to establish the extent of security force involvement.
During the summer, the Court of Appeal in Belfast gave the government a September deadline to confirm what form of investigation it intends to undertake into the murder.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hillary Benn met members of the Finucane family in Belfast on Tuesday evening ahead of his announcement on Wednesday.
Speaking from the House of Commons on Wednesday, Benn said it is a “plain fact” that the UK government commitment to hold an inquiry into Mr Finucane’s murder “remains unfulfilled”.
“It is for this exceptional reason that I have decided to establish an independent inquiry into the death of Patrick Finucane under the 2005 Inquiries Act,” he said.
What happens next?
Mr Benn has said that the Government will seek to appoint an inquiry chair and establish its terms of reference “as soon as possible”.
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