A FORMER RUC officer turned whistleblower who investigated the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane has told how he lives in constant fear.
Johnston (Jonty) Brown, who served as a CID detective sergeant, managed several high ranking informers in north Belfast during the Troubles.
Among those was UDA man and Special Branch agent Ken Barrett, who shot Pat Finucane.
Mr Brown said Barrett confessed to him and another colleague that he shot the solicitor but said he was thwarted in attempts to bring arrests or charges.
The former RUC officer believes he and his CID colleagues could have solved the murder case within weeks.
"We could have wrapped that up in something like two months, I know that,...we weren't allowed to, we were not allowed to do it. Every obstruction they could think of, they moved heaven and earth to stop that."
He referred to a 1991 recording with Barrett when he admitted the Finucane murder. However the recording was later lost by police.
Mr Brown explained that several days after the original confession was taped that he, a colleague and a Special Branch officer met again with Barrett.
This time they were instructed to ask a series of questions but to make no reference of Pat Finucane.
This second recording was later handed over to the Stevens Inquiry team, who were investigating the murder. The tape was subsequently exposed as a replacement.
In 2003 Barrett was convicted and sentenced to 22 years but released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
A second suspected gunman charged in connection with the murder, Mark Barr, was found hanged in 2007.
Former UDA quarter master William Stobie and Special Branch agent was also charged with the murder in 1999.
The case against him collapsed after the failure of a key witness to give evidence.
Stobie was shot dead weeks later by loyalists.
Mr Brown last night claimed that he and his close colleagues did all they could to keep Pat Finucane safe, including advising him to get a gun.
"I want the public to know that the Royal Ulster Constabulary Criminal Investigations Department did all that it could for Pat Finucane," he said.
"I knew Pat Finucane, the man, not the myth, I knew the man."
Mr Brown said he continues to live in fear.
"If there's a financial compensation that's fine. But there is no financial compensation you could give that puts my head back in place and puts my life in a manner that I can walk in and out of Belfast and not feel afraid," he said.
"Because I am sorry, I do even today, and I am not fearing UVF, UDA , IRA or INLA, I am fearing state inspired people who would if it suited them…use them to kill you."
