Ill-informed speculation on the outcome of an inquiry into six controversial murders in Northern Ireland and the Republic was causing distress for relatives, the judge carrying out the investigation declared today.
As Justice Peter Cory prepares to give authorities in London and Dublin his dossier on alleged security force collusion in the killings, he insisted there would be no advance leaks.
Justice Cory, a retired Canadian supreme court judge, has examined each case and will recommend whether public inquiries are required.
The British government has already pledged there will be judicial inquiries into any the judge calls for.
The murders are the loyalist assassinations of lawyers Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, the killings of a High Court Judge and two senior RUC officers by the IRA, and the shooting of jailed terror boss Billy Wright.
Even though the final report will not be delivered until October 7th, speculation about his findings have intensified.
But the judge has called for restraint until the findings were made public.
His spokesman said: "In particular he hopes that editors will think about the very distressing effect that ill-informed stories can have upon the families of the victims of these brutal murders.
"They have already suffered a great deal and face a particularly difficult time at the moment."