February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The inquiry held an opening session on April 19 in Craigavon, about five miles from where Nelson was killed, before suspending its hearings for a year to draw up a list of witnesses and examine police and other documents.
Among those present on the first day was New Jersey lawyer Ed Lynch, who had repeatedly warned the British government and police of death threats against the lawyer’s life, many allegedly emanating from police ranks themselves.
He said he would be back to testify and that he was still saddened by memories of Nelson’s death and angered that not enough had been done to protect her.
Nelson, a prominent human rights lawyer and married mother of three, had testified to a congressional committee on her fears. She often said she had been inspired by the example of Pat Finucane, the Belfast lawyer murdered by loyalists also allegedly in collusion with British state agencies.
Nelson died after a bomb attached to her car exploded on the morning of March 15, 1999. Her daughter, Sarah, then 7, heard the explosion as she played in a nearby schoolyard.
Although Nelson worked for loyalists as well as nationalists, she rose to public prominence by representing Garvaghy Road residents in their legal battle over the annual Drumcree Orange parade.
She also represented the family of a Portadown Catholic man, Robert Hamill, who was kicked to death by a loyalist mob allegedly within sight of a police patrol on duty to prevent such attacks. A similar public inquiry is due into his death next month.
Retired Canadian supreme court judge Peter Cory, who last year investigated allegations of collusion in her murder, found that she had been the subject of escalating death threats from the RUC since the mid-1990s.
No one has been charged in Nelson’s murder, although there are persistent press reports that a former British soldier and at least one police informant were involved. The murder was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, a flag of convenience for the UDA.
The opening day of the inquiry was a largely symbolic event that ended with the adjournment of proceedings so that an investigative process can begin before public hearings are held in the spring of 2006.
At the first public session, the three-member inquiry panel gave an insight into the focus of their inquiries. Nelson’s husband, Paul, and other family members sat and listened as the tribunal began its public work.
Its chairman, retired British High Court judge Sir Michael Morland, read an 18-page opening statement, saying its task was to seek out the truth. Saying the murder was one of thousands in Northern Ireland, he added it had “continued to attract interest and concern both here and abroad.”
Paul Nelson and the dead woman’s mother, Sheila, as well as the police and the Northern Ireland Office are among the small number of individuals and groups who have “full participant status” and are legally represented at the inquiry.
It has the powers to force the surrender of documents and compel witnesses to attend. There are concerns, however, that only the inquiry’s lawyers have an automatic right to ask questions of witnesses.
With no ruling on anonymity for witnesses, Morland also addressed the issue of criminal proceedings that may follow. He did not call for an amnesty, but suggested that the inquiry would benefit from pledges from the British attorney general.
Paul Nelson’s lawyer, Barra McGrory, said after the hearing it had been a “long road” for the family. “We will give every cooperation and we sincerely hope that it will succeed in its clear and stated intention to get to the truth,” he said.
Eunan Magee, Nelson’s brother, said he was “cautiously optimistic” and pleased that, unless otherwise ruled, the inquiry would normally hear evidence from named individuals, not anonymously.