The family of a nationalist councillor who believes he was murdered by British soldiers in Co Tyrone in 1974 is to take legal action after Northern Ireland's Attorney General refused to order a new inquest into his killing.
Patsy Kelly, a 35-year-old father of five, was abducted and shot dead in July 1974. No one has ever been charged in connection with his murder.
His family believe he was killed by members of the Ulster Defence Regiment after his car was stopped at a checkpoint in the village of Trillick and that that the killers were protected because they were soldiers.
Mr Kelly's body was found almost three weeks later in a remote lake 24km away in Co Fermanagh.
A report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI) last month said his family had been failed by police as a result of "latent investigative bias" and "collusive behaviour".
It said the police approach resulted in the potential involvement of UDR members being discounted at an early stage.
The family responded by calling for a fresh inquest into the killing, stating that the original inquest was incomplete as it did not have access to all the available evidence at the time.
Northern Ireland's Attorney General Brenda King has informed the family that she has rejected the request for a fresh inquest.
In a letter sent to their solicitor, her office stated: "It is difficult to see what more an inquest could add to the sum of knowledge."
Mr Kelly's family has strongly criticised the decision, saying it has caused enormous hurt.
In a statement, they said had been left with no option but to go to the courts to apply for a judicial review.
"The recent publication of the PONI report into Patsy's murder has highlighted the depth and scale of collusion in a case that has spanned across police, loyalist paramilitaries and British military forces. However, the PONI investigation only had the remit to investigate police misconduct," the statement said.
"The granting of a fresh inquest (bearing in mind the original inquest of 1975 was effectively incomplete) would allow the spotlight to focus on UDR involvement in tandem with a then active UVF unit in Fermanagh and would possess the power to compel witnesses to attend and to submit testimonies."
It added: "Given what we now know in regard to the wide-scale collusion across multiple agencies of the British state, it is simply appalling and comprehendible that a fresh inquest has been denied."
The family's solicitor Adrian O'Kane said the suggestion that they had obtained all the relevant answers from the Police Ombudsman report was "both wrong and misconceived".
He added: "The Police Ombudsman, by definition, is confined to examination of issues relating to the conduct of the RUC/PSNI.
"The Kelly family have always contended that all of the other components of the State - including Ministry of Defence and the Security Services - have important issues to address and questions to answer resulting from the death of Patsy Kelly. These can only be properly and fully addressed in a fresh Inquest."
In a statement, the office for the Attorney General said it "fully appreciates the Kelly family's disappointment with her decision not to direct a new inquest into the murder of Patsy Kelly on 24 July 1974".
It said: "The Attorney’s reasons for not directing an inquest have been set out in a letter issued on her behalf to the family’s solicitor."
Her office added: "It is important to note that the decision by the Attorney General not to exercise her powers under section 14(1) of the 1959 Act is not final and the matter can be re-visited should further relevant evidence come to light or further submissions be received.
"As is the case in relation to all applications, the Attorney General would welcome any such submissions."
