The scope of an inquiry into the 1999 murder of Northern solicitor Rosemary Nelson by loyalist paramilitaries has been widened to see if the British army or intelligence agencies had any hand in her killing.
The inquiry will now examine if the British government, its police, army or any other state agencies were in any way to blame for the March 1999 car bomb attack outside the mother of three's home in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
The British Secretary of State for the North, Mr Paul Murphy, today confirmed the widened scope of the investigation, which is headed by retired English and Welsh High Court judge Sir Michael Morland.
Under the revised terms of reference, the three-person team, which will get under way in Craigavon on April 19th, will look into whether the Northern Ireland Office, Royal Ulster Constabulary, British army or its agencies or anyone within them facilitated in her death or obstructed the investigation.
The inquiry will examine whether this was intentional or due to negligence and whether the murder investigation was carried out with due care and attention.
Mrs Nelson, who had represented nationalist residents in Portadown's Garvaghy Road during the contentious Drumcree marching dispute with the Orange Order, was murdered by a booby trap bomb claimed by loyalists.
Prior to her death she claimed members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary had threatened her life.
Judge Cory investigated some of the North's most controversial killings, including those of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, Robert Hamill in Portadown in 1997, LVF leader Billy Wright in the Maze Prison in 1997 and Mrs Nelson in Lurgan in 1999.
The British government has attempted to limit the scope of an inquiry into Mr Finucane's murder - which would make an independent investigation "impossible", judge Cory has said.
The proposed Inquiries Bill would give British ministers the power to order an inquiry to hear evidence in private, and to bar the production of some evidence to protect national security.
Judge Cory said "I don't know how any self-respecting Canadian judge would be part of it in light of the restrictions on independence it would impose."