The Public Prosecution Service has said it will reconsider its decision not to prosecute a retired RUC officer, as recommended by the inquiry into the sectarian murder of Robert Hamill.
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The PPS said its review would be conducted "as quickly as possible".
In a brief interim report published on Friday, the Robert Hamill Inquiry recommended the authorities reconsider "urgently" the decision to discontinue the prosecution of reserve Constable Robert Atkinson, who was accused of perverting the course of justice.
Mr Atkinson was one of four police officers who were in a RUC Land Rover close to the scene of the fatal attack on Mr Hamill in Portadown in the early hours of 27 April 1997.
The Catholic father-of-three suffered severe head injuries in the assault and died 11 days later without regaining consciousness.
The year-long inquiry was told that, within two weeks of the murder, police had names for those involved in the assault, and were aware of claims that Mr Atkinson warned one of the killers to dispose of clothes worn in the attack and updated him on the investigation.
Mr Atkinson denied the allegations made against him and a charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice was withdrawn in 2004.
Publishing its interim report at the invitation of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the inquiry said its recommendation was based solely on the need to take into account all matters available which are relevant to making a decision whether or not to prosecute.
"The report does not comment on the merits of the original prosecution nor on what conclusion might be reached after any reconsideration," it added.
It said that it hoped to complete its final report within the next 12 months.
Robert Hamill's family, the Committee on the Administration of Justice human rights group, Sinn Fein and the SDLP welcomed news of the PPS review.
Sinn Fein Upper Bann MLA John O' Dowd said the Hamill family have been "tireless in their campaign for justice".
"Time and time again they were let down by the very authorities who were supposed to be tasked with delivering justice," he said.
"This recommendation is itself a vindication of the strong stance of the Hamill family, but it is also a very sharp criticism of the PPS, coming on top of a string of other poor decisions", SDLP Upper Bann MLA Dolores Kelly said.
Mr Hamill's case was championed during the late 1990s by his family's solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, who campaigned for a public inquiry, which eventually opened in January 2009.
In March 1999, Mrs Nelson, a 40-year-old married mother of three, was also murdered amid claims of security force collusion.
The inquiry into Mrs Nelson's death has also concluded and it is also compiling its final report.
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