Pat Finucane: Family's legal challenge set for June

Mr Finucane, 39, was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries at his north Belfast home in February 1989

A legal challenge against the government by the widow of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane will be heard in June, a judge has said.

Last year, Geraldine Finucane secured the right to challenge the government's decision not to hold a public inquiry into state collusion in the killing.

Mrs Finucane's lawyers claim the decision breached her human rights.

Mr Finucane, 39, was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries at his north Belfast home in February 1989.

He was shot 14 times by two masked men from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in front of his wife and children.

• A murder with 'collusion at its heart'

• •Finucane inquiry decision an 'insult' to family

His family has since campaigned for a public inquiry to establish the full scale of security force collusion in the assassination.

In February 2019 the Supreme Court held that previous probes into the killing did not meet Article 2 human rights standards.

Mrs Finucane took legal action in a bid to force the government to act on the finding that no proper investigation had been carried out.

In November 2020, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis apologised for the delay in making a decision, but ultimately announced there would not be a public inquiry at this point.