The wrong man died, and it could have been stopped

The tragic death of Adam Lambert in 1987 looked at first sight to be a classically random Ulster Defence Association killing of a young man whom the extreme loyalists mistakenly thought was a Catholic.

Only years afterwards did it emerge that the killing had intelligence implications, with Sir John Stevens concluding yesterday that it could have been prevented.

The story of the assassination is a poignant one which, in passing, illustrates how the UDA, a lethal but ramshackle grouping, can interact with intelligence agencies such as the RUC's Special Branch.

The Lambert killing happened in November 1987, a day after the notorious Poppy Day bombing in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, when an IRA bomb killed 11 people waiting for a Remembrance Day ceremony.

On the next day a number of UDA men drinking in a club in west Belfast decided to stage a retaliation. At first they tried to shoot at a bus carrying Catholics but their gun jammed.

They then decided to shoot two Catholics going into a newsagents but were too late. Finally, they shot Adam Lambert at the building site where he was on work experience, believing him to be a Catholic.

Lambert, who was also known as Brian, was in fact a Protestant university student with no paramilitary connections. His former headmaster described him as "an absolutely first-rate young man; a school prefect, a marvellous sportsman and possessed of great academic ability."

A man convicted of the murder said the gang were "all sickened" when they found out they had shot a Protestant. At the end of the trial, the judge said: "Of all the countless, needless murders committed in this province, the murder of Mr Lambert was one of the most tragic."

Yesterday Sir John Stevens did not specify exactly how the killing could have been prevented, but presumably meant there was prior intelligence about possible UDA retaliation for the Enniskillen bombing.

The UDA member who provided the gun for the shooting, William Stobie, was picked up for questioning by police within weeks of the attack. Rather than being charged, however, he was instead recruited by the Special Branch as an informer.

He later supplied the gun used to kill Pat Finucane. Although Sir John did not spell it out, the Metropolitan Commissioner appears to have been affronted at the fact that Stobie was not charged with murder. He seems further amazed that, having been recruited as an agent and warned that a shooting was imminent, the security forces did not act.

Yesterday his mother, Ivy, said she did not think an inquiry was needed. She added that she understood others felt differently but that her family supported the police and security forces. "They were under tremendous pressure at the time and mistakes were made," she said. "We miss Adam terribly, but we have mourned his loss and gotten on with our lives. He would not have wanted us to live in the past."