Loyalist on murder charge moved to English jail
A loyalist awaiting trial for the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has been moved to a jail in England, it was confirmed today.
Ken Barrett, who is due to stand trial in September for the shooting of Mr Finucane in his north Belfast home in February 1989, was transferred on Thursday when a report on the solicitor’s controversial killing was released by the British government.
Mr Finucane’s family, nationalist politicians and human rights campaigners believe British Army intelligence and members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary colluded in his murder.
Mr Barrett, who was arrested in Sussex last May, has denied killing the solicitor and had been behind bars in Maghaberry Jail in Co Antrim.
However, in September, his lawyers had voiced fears during an unsuccessful bail application that their client’s life could be in danger at the prison.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said today the fact that Mr Barrett was transferred on the day when retired Canadian judge Peter Cory’s report on the Finucane murder was published was coincidental.
“Mr Barrett applied last October for a transfer to an English prison for family reasons,” he said.
“The application was processed as a matter of routine.
“It was purely coincidental that the date of the transfer coincided with the publication of the Cory Report.”
Mr Barrett, who is originally from the loyalist Glencairn estate, was arrested by a team investigating the Finucane murder headed by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens.
Last April in a report handed to the British government, Mr Stevens claimed the murder of Mr Finucane and Protestant student Adam Lambert could have been prevented if there wasn’t security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde is a former member of the Stevens investigative team.
Mr Barrett, who is aged 40, also denied other charges including membership of the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters and the theft of Army weapons.
Judge Cory recommended public inquiries into Mr Finucane’s and three other controversial killings.
On Thursday, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy told MPs public inquiries would be held “as soon as possible” into the murders of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson, Portadown Catholic father of two Robert Hamill and Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright.
However he said an inquiry into Mr Finucane’s shooting would be put on hold until all criminal proceedings relating to the case, like Mr Barrett’s trial, were held.
The Finucane family angrily denounced the British government, accusing it of seeking to prevent attempts to get to the bottom of alleged collusion.
On Friday, former members of the Army intelligence Forces Research Unit, who are accused of colluding with loyalists, also called for an immediate public inquiry so they could clear their names.
