Barrett admits murder, attempted murder, weapons possession, UFF membership
Ken Barrett - who today pleased guilty to the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane - just nodded when asked to confirm his identity in court today, but when a series of charges, including Mr Finucane’s murder, were put to him, he replied quietly: “Guilty.”
He also admitted the attempted murder of Mrs Finucane, possessing weapons with intent to endanger life, membership of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), wounding with intent and the theft of a huge consignment of Army-owned guns in August 1987.
Barrett, from North Belfast, was arrested in London in May last year and brought back to Northern Ireland where he has been held in an isolated cell at the top security Maghaberry Prison, near Lisburn, Co Antrim.
Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Barrett will be entitled to early release from jail, and having served almost 18 months will be able to apply to the Life Sentence Review Body in a move to be set free.
He became a police informer in 1991 after he was stripped of his post as a commander of the loyalist paramilitary organisation in North Belfast for allegedly stealing money obtained through racketeering. It was then that Barrett vowed to seek revenge against the UDA leadership.
Two of his former associates who were also allegedly part of the team involved in the Finucane shooting have since died.
William Stobie, who provided one of the weapons used in the killing, was shot dead by loyalists at his home in December 2001 and Brian Nelson, who helped provide information on Mr Finucane’s whereabouts, died of lung cancer in Wales last April.
Both Nelson and Stobie were also working as informers for the police and military intelligence and it was Nelson who warned his handlers in advance of the Finucane killing that a shooting was about to take place.
