A fresh judicial investigation into the murder of Belfast solicitor Mr Patrick Finucane will be held in the New Year, the British government said tonight.
The announcement came following the collapse of the trial of the man charged with the killing 12 years ago, when the Crown agreed not to call the key prosecution witness because of his mental illness.
The Northern Ireland Office said a judge of international standing would be appointed to conduct an investigation into the murder, and others in which there have been allegations of security force collusion, no later than April next year.
The judge will have the power to recommend to the British government that a public inquiry into the killing should be held.
The NIO made the announcement as it came under renewed pressure to set up an public judicial inquiry into the murder of Mr Finucane following the collapse of the trial.
On his 51st birthday, Mr William Stobie walked from Belfast Crown Court a free man when the Crown offered no evidence against him after deciding not to call their key witness.
The Director of Public Prosecution agreed not to call former Sunday newspaper journalist Mr Neil Mulholland after hearing he was suffering from manic depressive illness and could become suicidal if forced to give evidence.
The case against Mr Stobie, a self-confessed police agent and one-time quartermaster in the Ulster Defence Association, was brought by a team headed by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens.
He had been called into Northern Ireland in the 1990s to reinvestigate the murder - and others - amid continual claims there had been security force collusion with loyalist groups.
Both the Finucane family and Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams said they were not surprised the case had collapsed and renewed demands for an independent public inquiry.
The Finucanes said in a statement that the trial of Mr Stobie was "never a truth-seeking exercise".
They had maintained all along the Stevens investigation and the prosecution of Mr Stobie were a "delaying tactic to thwart the establishment of a public inquiry. The Stevens investigation has delayed a public inquiry by at least three years, so it has served its purpose," they said.
The Finucanes claimed the appointment of a judge to carry out another investigation was "another delaying tactic" which would hold up a public inquiry for another four or five years.
They insisted: "Justice demands that Tony Blair should announce the establishment of a public inquiry now.
"No amount of political deal making will dilute the family's entitlement to this very basic human right, the right to truth."
The appointment of a judge to investigate allegations of security force collusion in loyalist murders was part of a deal made by Mr Tony Blair and Taoiseach Mr Ahern during the Weston Park talks with Northern Ireland political parties in the summer.
But the NIO cautioned tonight that as the Stevens Inquiry was still active the judge would not begin his probe if Stevens' investigations resulted in criminal proceedings which it could prejudice.
PA