Following upon the successful role of retired Canadian General John de Chastelain in overseeing the decommissioning of arms in the north of Ireland still under British overlordship, another Canadian has been entrusted with the task of examining a number of murder cases where collusion with authorities has been alleged.

Judge Peter Cory (76), who retired from the Supreme Court of Canada three years ago, has received a joint appointment from the British and Irish governments to oversee and report on investigations of six high profile killings in those six counties partitioned in 1922 which form the continuing basis of dissent and strife.

The cases include the murders of two solicitors, Mr. Pat Finucane and Ms Rosemary Nelson, both Catholics, in 1989 and 1999 respectively, and of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader, Billy Wright, in 1997.

Also to be investigated are allegations of Provisional IRA collusion with Gardaí in the murder of Lord Justice Maurice Gibson and his wife, Lady Cicely, in a 500lb landmine attack 1987; allegations of collusion in the Provisional IRA gun attack on two senior RUC officers, Chief Supt. Harry Breen and Supt. Bob Buchanan in 1989, and whether RUC officers failed to intervene when a Catholic father of two, Mr. Robert Hamill, was beaten and kicked to death by loyalists in Portadown in 1997.

In a statemen,. Mr Justice Cory said: "I am to review all the papers in each case, including the records of earlier investigations. I am also to interview anyone I think can assist the examination and report as quickly as possible with any recommendations, particularly if I consider appropriate the holding of a public inquiry."

Mr. Justice Cory was born in Windsor, Ontario, October 25, 1925. He was educated at the University of Western Ontario (Assumption), and is a graduate of Osgoode Hall. As a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force he served overseas with 6th Bomber Group. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1950 and appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1989. He is a past chairman of the Ontario Civil Liberties Section of the Canadian Bar Association.