A coroner is to take the British Ministry of Defence and Police Service of Northern Ireland to the High Court in an attempt to obtain unedited documents relating to 10 controversial deaths, it emerged today.
A deadline to hand over the papers passed at a hearing in Dungannon Coroner's Court today but no documents were submitted.
Coroner Roger McLernon insisted he stood by his ruling that censored papers he received from the security forces were relevant to the inquests and said he would now go to the High Court to obtain the complete versions.
He told the 13th preliminary hearing of the inquests that he would either apply for a subpoena to have the documents produced or seek a judicial review of the decision to withhold them.
Mr McLernon adjourned the hearing for three weeks to seek legal advice and allow solicitors for the families to make submissions on the way forward.
The inquests are probing the deaths of Catholic pensioner Roseanne Mallon; Jack and Kevin McKearney; and seven IRA men shot dead by the SAS in Co Tyrone in the early 1990s.
The MoD and PSNI have argued at previous hearings that the documents must be censored because some of the material is sensitive.
PA