Ken Barrett, 43, agreed to speak yesterday after being tracked down to a rented house in southern England. He says police have not provided him with protection and he feels vulnerable to revenge attacks from both loyalists, on whom he informed, and republicans, whom he attacked.
The former loyalist hitman and RUC special branch agent is taking legal advice on whether he should tell the full story of the murder of Finucane at the planned public inquiry.
Finucane, a Belfast solicitor, was gunned down by the UDA in 1989. Barrett, who pleaded guilty to the murder, thus avoiding a full trial, has hinted that he did not fire the fatal shot.
“I have pleaded guilty to the murder, I have never said I shot him,” Barrett said. He was sentenced to 22 years but last month was freed under the Good Friday agreement after serving less than three.
The British government is committed to an inquiry into the murder, one of the most controversial of the Troubles, but is in dispute with the Finucane family over the terms.
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The government has sought to restrict the evidence given, saying it will lead to greater efficiency. However, the Finucane family argues that it will undermine the ability of any presiding judge to get to the truth.
Sir John Stevens, who conducted investigations into the murder, found that the security forces had colluded in the killing and forwarded several files to the prosecution service, which is still considering them.
Barrett confirmed RUC involvement in the murder in a secretly recorded conversation with BBC’s Panorama. He said: “The peelers wanted him whacked. We whacked him and that is the end of the story.”
Last week he refused to comment on police involvement, but hinted that somebody else pulled the trigger. “Can we get one thing straight? I pleaded guilty to this murder. Now who have I told that I shot Pat Finucane? Nobody.”
In interviews with his CID handlers Johnston Brown and Trevor McIlwrath, Barrett gave a graphic description of the murder, including details that would be known only to an eyewitness. Asked who shot the lawyer, he replied: “Hypothetically, me.”
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Brown and McIlwrath sought to have him arrested but were overruled by special branch, which was co-handling Barrett. They later gave this information to the Stevens inquiry. The CID handlers have both been warned they are under threat from Barrett, but he said he had “no sour grapes against them. Nobody is under threat from me”.
He added: “Personally I have nothing to hide. I pleaded guilty to the murder and I have been released like everyone else under the Good Friday agreement. I did a year longer than some of them.” Other terrorist prisoners were released after two years.
Barrett insisted that the police and government have done him no favours since his release, and dismissed Sinn Fein claims that he has been given a handsome resettlement package and a new life.
“They took me out of the jail in a Transit van and brought me straight to (a Northern Ireland airport),” Barrett said. “I was given a ticket from (a budget airline), to (an English airport).” He said he had just £7, which he used to buy a train ticket to his girlfriend’s home.
“I have nothing here that she hasn’t paid for, nothing special, and she is on benefits. I haven’t signed on just yet. We live in a rented house, a council house.
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“We have three kids aged from 5 to 14. I get them out early in the morning to school. I’m going to have to get a job. I just want to make my life here, look after the family and get on with it.”
His Northern Ireland girlfriend has been living in England since Barrett was caught in a sting operation by the Stevens inquiry in 2003.