William "Billy" Stobie (1950 - 12 December 2001)[1] was an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) quartermaster and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Special Branch informer[2] who was involved in the shootings of student Brian Adam Lambert in 1987 and solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.
His 1990 admissions, to journalist Neil Mulholland, provided new information which led, in February 1999, to British Irish Rights Watch submitting a confidential report to the British Government.[3] This in turn would lead to the reopening of the Stevens Enquiry which uncovered state/paramilitary collusion at a level "way beyond" what Sir John Stevens had originally reported.[4]
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On 8 November 1987, the IRA detonated a powerful bomb at the Enniskillen Remembrance Sunday ceremony killing eleven. There was no immediate direct reprisal, partially as a result of an appeal by Gordon Wilson, father of one of the victims.[5] The exception to this was when[5] Brian Adam Lambert was mistakenly targeted and shot the following day at a building site in Highfield, Belfast. He was a 19 year-old Protestant student with no criminal record or paramilitary links, but was assumed to have been a Catholic.[6][7]
Stobie admitted supplying the guns for the attack and driving Stephen Harbinson[8] in the getaway car. Both Stobie and Harbinson stated that they were sickened by the mistake and for the first time Stobie realised that the UDA was unprofessional.[2] That same month Stobie was arrested for Lambert's murder. He was not charged but, while in custody, was recruited as an agent by the RUC Special Branch.
Harbinson was also arrested; he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Following his release under the Good Friday Agreement he skipped bail on drug dealing charges in Northern Ireland. He was rearrested on the Costa Del Sol on separate charges of drug trafficking, kidnapping and arms possession. Once more he was given bail and disappeared.[9]
In April 1999, as part of the Stevens Enquiry, Stobie was arrested and charged with Finucane's murder. In June that year, as agreed, journalist Ed Moloney published Stobie's version of the circumstances of Finucane's death.[10] The charges were later commuted to aiding and abetting the murder.[11] Stobie's trial eventually collapsed because of the failure of Neil Mulholland, by now Northern Ireland Office Press Officer, to take the witness stand.
Stobie was rearrested and charged with murder as a result of Stevens 3. At his trial the chief witness, Neil Mullholland, refused to take the witness stand and Stobie was released.
In his overview and recommendations John Stevens stated:
On 12 December 2001, Stobie was shot dead outside his home at Forthriver Road, Glencairn, Belfast. The Red Hand Defenders (RHD) claimed responsibility.[13]