The family of a nationalist councillor shot dead in Co Tyrone in 1974 have accused Northern Ireland's Attorney General of delaying a decision on a fresh inquest until proposed controversial British Government legislation takes the issue out of her hands.
Patsy Kelly, a 35-year-old father of five, was shot dead shortly after locking up the bar where he worked in the village of Trillick in July 1974.
His family believe he was killed by members of the British Army's locally recruited Ulster Defence Regiment and that the killers were protected because they were soldiers.
In April this year Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman accused Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch of "turning a blind eye" to intelligence linking members of the UDR and police officers to a loyalist gang operating in the area at the time and said this constituted "collusive behaviour".
The family said the findings supported their case for a fresh inquest to establish what happened.
But last month Northern Ireland's Attorney General refused to order a fresh inquest.
In a letter to the family's solicitor, Brenda King said it was "difficult to see what more an inquest could add to the sum of knowledge".
Mr Kelly's wife Teresa and one of their sons, Patsy, were in the High Court in Belfast this morning as their legal team sought permission to judicially review that decision.
However, it was revealed that the Attorney General has now said in papers lodged in court that she is reconsidering the matter.
The court was told she has committed to reaching a determination by this Friday, 30 June, and informing the family no later than next Friday, 7 July.
A lawyer for the family objected to the delay, pointing out that they had first requested a fresh inquest in June 2019.
Barrister Des Fahy told the court that the matter should be dealt with urgently before the possible introduction of controversial British Government legislation to end all prosecutions, investigations and inquests into killings during the Troubles.
"On the day and hour that this Bill becomes law, the Attorney General will not have the authority to order a fresh inquest," Mr Fahy explained.
"This judicial review needs to be determined before the passage of the Bill into law."
A lawyer for the Attorney General said it is not clear when the proposed new legislation will be enacted and argued that it was best to wait for the new decision as the legal challenge would be redundant if a fresh inquest was ordered.
Judge Mr Justice Scoffield agreed to wait for the new decision, which he said should be communicated to Mr Kelly's family no later than next Monday, 3 July.
Speaking outside court, Mr Kelly's family accused the Attorney General of using delaying tactics to frustrate their attempts to have a new inquest.
"The Attorney General is deliberately running down the clock on this case to ensure that the legacy bill will be enacted and therefore that the decision, her decision, on granting a fresh inquest will be taken out of her hands," said Patsy Kelly Jnr.
"What we're faced with is deliberately delaying and ultimately denying justice to our family. To say it's frustrating would be a complete and utter understatement.
"Quite simply, we want the truth, this is about nothing else except the truth."
Solicitor Adrian O'Kane said it was regrettable that the family had to initiate legal proceedings and urged the Attorney General to order that a fresh inquest should take place without any further delay.
"Throughout the past 49 years Teresa Kelly and her family are determined that the fight will go on and Teresa Kelly's last words coming out of court today were that the fight will go on," Mr O'Kane said.
