​​​Former loyalist chief launches legal challenge over Finucane inquiry

Courtney claims he was unlawfully refused core participatory rights in the tribunal examining a high-profile killing he has previously been publicly accused of involvement in.

A judge today listed his application for leave to seek a judicial review for hearing in November.

Mr Finucane, 39, was shot dead by loyalist paramilitary gunmen in front of his wife and three children at their north Belfast home in February 1989.

Previous probes have found evidence of security force collusion in one of the most notorious murders carried out during the Troubles.

Following a campaign by the Finucane family, in 2024 the UK government announced an independent statutory inquiry would be set up to examine the full circumstances surrounding the solicitor’s death.

The tribunal, which formally opened in June, is expected to probe relationships between the UDA killers and members of the security forces.

The role played by Army agent Brian Nelson in targeting Mr Finucane for assassination will also be explored.

In 2002, Courtney was reportedly arrested and questioned in connection with the murder of Mr Finucane, but released without any charge.

The 62-year-old, from the Shankill area of Belfast, has already lost a previous legal challenge to the scope of the hearings.

He unsuccessfully claimed the tribunal's terms of reference unlawfully seek to establish the identity of all those involved in the killing.

Courtney’s legal team are now seeking a separate judicial review of inquiry chairman Sir Gary Hickinbottom’s decision not to grant him core participant status at this stage.

Anyone with that designation is entitled to make opening and closing statements, suggest lines of questioning and receive relevant material.

Even though the decision could be reconsidered at a later stage, Coutney insists the status should have been assigned to him from the outset.

His barristers, John Larkin KC and Emma McIlveen, contend that the determination was unfair and irrational.

“The Applicant is not merely a curious member of the public with a general interest in a famous historical murder,” legal papers submitted.

“He is a man who stands publicly accused, in media reporting, and by reason of his arrest by the Stevens Inquiry, of having been one of the gunmen who murdered Patrick Finucane.

“The reputational, personal and legal consequences of the inquiry's work for the applicant are of an entirely different order from any interest that could be said to be held by the general public.”

In court today Mr Justice McAlinden was told that the main evidence at the tribunal will not begin until later in the year.

He agreed to list Courtney’s legal challenge for a hearing on November 12.