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Belfast man arrested in Finucane murder

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Patrick Markey

Police have arrested a 48-year-old Belfast man and charged him in connection with the murder of Pat Finucane, the Northern Irish lawyer who was gunned down in front of his wife and children at his home ten years ago.

William Alfred Stobie, a former soldier from Forthriver Road in Belfast was arrested on Wednesday evening and appeared in Belfast Magistrates Court on Thursday morning where he was charged with one count of murder, according to a spokeswoman for the Northern Ireland Courts.

The court heard that Stobie claimed he had been working for the RUC Special Branch at the time of the shooting, and had twice warned them that a man who was to be killed, local newspapers reported.

Finucane was shot fourteen times by loyalist gunmen at his North Belfast home in February, 1989. The Ulster Freedom Fighters claimed responsibility for the killing. Allegations of security force collusion sparked repeated calls on both sides of the Atlantic for an independent investigation into Finucane’s murder.

Stobie was arrested by officers working with English police chief John Stevens, who had carried out two separate earlier investigations into the killing, an RUC spokesman said. Stobie is being held on remand until July 14, when he is scheduled to appear at a special court in the Maze prison.

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