The British government has again refused to establish a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, the 39-year-old defence lawyer shot dead in front of his family in Belfast in 1989 by paramilitaries acting on the direction of the British Armed Forces.

The assassination came shortly after a Home Office minister, Douglas Hogg, expressed his concern to the House of Commons about lawyers “unduly sympathetic to the IRA”.

In February, the British government had been ordered to hold a proper, independent investigation by the Supreme Court in London. However, Britain’s Direct Ruler in Ireland, Brandon Lewis said that his government intended to effectively defy that ruling.

He told the Commons the levels of collusion in the case were “totally unacceptable” and reiterated a previous apology by the former British prime minister, David Cameron. However, despite several court decisions rejecting its independence, he insisted a policing investigation should continue.

“It is important that we allow the PSNI and Police Ombudsman processes to move forward, and that we avoid the risk of prejudicing any emerging conclusions from that work,” he said.

He also said he believed the London government’s obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights could be met “through a series of processes”, and but without further explanation.

Mr Finucane’s widow Geraldine said Mr Lewis’s proposal “falls so far short of what is required in this case that it beggars belief,” adding that it made a “mockery of the decision” regarding a public inquiry by the Supreme Court in London.

“It is yet another insult added to a deep and lasting injury,” she said. Mrs Finucane said the family would continue to campaign for a full public inquiry.

Mr Finucane’s son John, who is the MP for North Belfast, told reporters in Belfast immediately after the announcement that his family was “angry” and given all that had been established about collusion in his father’s murder, it was “insulting” and “disgraceful” that after more than 30 years that Mr Lewis was still “not ruling out” a public inquiry in the future.

THe Finucane family issued a statement saying the following: "In failing to establish a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, the British Government have not only set themselves against my family but also the Irish government, local, national and international political parties, political institutions, legal and human rights groups domestically and internationally.

The murder of Pat Finucane has been described as not just an attack on one lawyer but an attack on the rul e of law itself. The Secretary of State has shown us today that the attack is continuing. They have clearly set themselves against the rule of law in ignoring the highest court of their own jurisdiction. They remain in breach of their international legal obligations, a shameful and inexcusable position for a sovereign government to take.

They have again shown that they have no intention in admitting their role in the conflict here. Colluding with killers did not just result in my husband’s murder, but many others. The extent and depth of this political policy is what the British government fear being exposed. The outcome of our meeting confirms that once again."