James BryceBy James Bryce
THE shooting of three IRA members in Gibraltar is to be examined as part of a major review commissioned by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Gibraltar QC Sir Desmond de Silva is heading the case, which will focus on the assassination of high-profile Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane in 1989.
Finucane successfully represented a number of IRA members, including hunger striker Pat McGeown, and his murder stirred controversy amid allegations of state collusion.
The deaths in Gibraltar are being considered as part of the review because one of the dead, Mairead Farrell, was engaged to Finucane’s brother Seamus.
The bomb plot – which could have killed up to 100 people – was foiled after Farrell was shot dead along with fellow suspects Danny McCann and Sean Savage on the Rock in March 1988.
The review is expected to be completed by the end of the year, while a judicial review over the government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into Finucane’s death is set for May.
