A US academic yesterday said the extent of apparent security force collusion in loyalist paramilitary murders in the North was "shocking".

University of Notre Dame human rights law Professor Douglass Cassel was commenting after an international investigation he headed uncovered considerable and credible evidence of British Army and police collusion in 74 sectarian murders during the 1970s.

Professor Cassel told the Belfast presentation of the report: "Personally I was shocked.

"The British Government has a reputation around the world as one of the leading democracies and one of the longest histories of the rule of law.

"To find this extent of collusion in murders in the 25 incidents we investigated was shocking," he said.

The probe into 25 loyalist atrocities, carried out by a panel of human rights experts from around the world, found senior RUC officers were aware and approved of collusion while officials in London had enough information to intervene.

The panel's report also called on the British government to appoint an independent inquiry to examine how high up the chain of command collusion went.

The panel had been asked by the Derry-based human rights organisation the Pat Finucane Centre to investigate allegations of collusion in 25 loyalist attacks.