The family of the murdered Belfast solicitor, Mr Pat Finucane, insisted yesterday that the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, had not ruled out their demand for an independent judicial inquiry into his murder.
Emerging from a 70-minute meeting at Downing Street, Mr Finucane's wife, Geraldine, said Mr Blair had told her he would re-examine the evidence in the case first given to the British government by the campaign group, British Irish Rights Watch, in February last year. If Mr Blair found evidence of security force or RUC collusion in his murder, Mrs Finucane said he had told them "he would not tolerate it".
Before the meeting Downing Street had said Mr Blair would be "in listening mode" and that criminal proceedings in the case took precedence "before anything else could be addressed".
The Finucane family have long believed that the security forces and members of the RUC colluded in Mr Finucane's murder, alleging that RUC Special Branch officers were warned about the attack before the solicitor was shot dead in his home in Belfast in 1989.
After handing their evidence to Mr Blair, claiming members of the RUC suggested the UDA should kill Mr Finucane and that the British military intelligence agent, Brian Nelson, was involved in the murder, Mrs Finucane said the family's main concern was not the person who "pulled the trigger", but getting answers to their questions about security force collusion.
"In 1989 gunmen in Belfast were two a penny and we knew that this went much beyond that. We're looking for the people behind this, the people who sanctioned it, the people who had the policy in Northern Ireland and who allowed this sort of thing to happen," she said.
"They played God as to whether my husband was going to live or die and not only him but lots of other people as well."
The family had told Mr Blair they thought the remit of the Stevens Inquiry into Mr Finucane's murder was "too narrow", but Mrs Finucane said Mr Blair had said it was impossible to have an investigation running at the same time as an independent inquiry. However, the family pointed out that a legal report by Amnesty International had suggested examples where inquires had taken place before any legal proceedings, such as the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and the Harold Shipman case.
The family also thanked the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, for setting up the meeting with the Prime Minister.
Mr Finucane's brother, Martin, who was at the meeting, said the family would not give up their demand for an independent inquiry.
Also attending the meeting were Mrs Finucane's three children, John, Katherine and Michael and Ms Jane Winter, director of British Irish Rights Watch, which has compiled evidence alleging security force and RUC collusion in the murder. They were joined by Mr Paul Mageean, legal officer of the Committee on the Administration on Justice and Mr Peter Madden, of Madden and Finucane solicitors.