A loyalist assassin-turned police informer who admitted shooting Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Ken Barrett pleaded guilty on Monday to one of the most controversial killings in the Troubles.
Pat Finucane: murdered in 1989
Mr Finucane was shot dead in front of his wife and children as they ate Sunday dinnner when masked gunmen burst into his home.
The conclusion of the case has intensified pressure on the British government to hold a public inquiry based on overwhelming evidence that police and military intelligence colluded in the February 1989 shooting.
As the shooting was carried out before the April 1998 Belfast Agreement, Barrett may be eligible for release as early as next May if he guarantees to stay away from all paramilitary involvement.
"It's my expectation that Mr Barrett wil be applying from prison for his case to be considered by the sentence review board," his lawyer Mr Joe Rice said, adding that it was up to Barrett to make the application.
"It's a matter for the prisoner," he said.
With former associates enraged by his work for police Special Branch, Barrett is set to begin a new life overseas as soon as he gets out.
The ex-UDA commander's lust for murder was exposed during a dramatic hour-long hearing at Belfast Crown Court on Monday Barrett, who admitted a dozen paramilitary crimes, was trapped in an undercover operation mounted by detectives from Scotland Yard Chief Sir John Stevens' team examining the collusion.
Tonight, the family of Pat Finucane intensified pressure on British Prime Minsiter Tony Blair to agree to a full public inquiry into alleged collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces.
"The Government has run out of excuses for delaying the establishment of a public inquiry into Pat's murder," they said.
"Our campaign to seek the truth will continue and we will not be discouraged or disheartened by a callous government continuing its own campaign of delay, cover-up and spin," they added.
Last year, the inquiry set up under Scotland Yard chief Sir John Stevens to examine claims of collusion submitted files on more than 20 people to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said tonight: "We will establish whether there are any other prosecutions that could be affected by a parallel inquiry and will endeavour to do this as soon as possible."
Also tonight four human rights organisations who had been monitoring the Barrett trial called for the immediate implementation of an inquiry.
Amnesty International, British Irish Rights Watch, the Committee on the Administration of Justice and Human Rights First said the trial had led to no significant information being made public.
"The conviction and sentencing today of Kenneth Barrett, a former loyalist prisoner, for the murder of Patrick Finucane, has removed any purported justification on the part of the authorities to further delay a public inquiry," they said in a joint statement.
Additional reporting PAand Reuters