A judge appointed to examine a number of controversial killings in Northern Ireland has yet to decide if any of them are to go to public inquiry, his office said today.
Retired Canadian judge, Peter Cory, 76, was appointed by the Irish and British governments earlier this year to investigate six unsolved murders which involve allegations of collusion by security forces on both sides of the border.
A spokesman for Mr Cory's office said he felt compelled to speak out after newspaper speculation claimed inquiries would be held into three of the killings.
The family of one of the murder victims had been upset by one of the reports, he added.
The spokesman said the judge had studied the papers in only one case - the murder of Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane, who was shot dead by the Ulster Defence Association in his north Belfast home in February 1989.
He would not discuss "any tentative conclusions" which Mr Cory had reached.
The judge has not yet studied the papers in any of the other five cases, he said.
"His reports will be sent to the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach when he has completed his investigation into all the cases, and his conclusions will not be known before then," the spokesman added.
Mr Cory is also to investigate the deaths of Lord Justice Maurice and Lady Cecily Gibson, who were killed by the IRA in April 1987; Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright, who was killed by republicans in the Maze Prison in December 1997; and Rosemary Nelson, who was killed by loyalists in March 1999.
The murders of two senior RUC officers, Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, who were allegedly set up for an IRA ambush by a renegade police officer in the Republic, will also be examined.
The appointment of Judge Cory fulfilled a commitment made by the British and Irish governments following the Weston Park talks in the summer of last year.
PA