A leading academic has told the Billy Wright inquiry he does not believe the LVF chief's murder was state sponsored.
Richard English, professor of politics at Queen's University Belfast made the remark during the second day of oral hearings in Banbridge, Co Down, into allegations of collusion in Wright's murder inside the top security Maze prison in December 1997.
Outlining the political background Prof English said Wright was a conspicuous figure associated with aggressive opposition to the peace process. The inquiry panel heard him described as a "notorious figure" and a person whom nationalists considered "dangerous".
By 1997 Wright was "persona non grata" within loyalist/unionist circles and at odds with most people involved in Northern Ireland politics.
Prof English said Wright had become a concern for the paramilitary based Combined Loyalist Military Command as well as the British and Irish governments if they were heading for a political settlement in Northern Ireland.
When asked by lawyers for the Crown Solicitor's Office, he agreed politically it would have been implausible that the state facilitated Wright's murder.
However, when pressed by counsel for the Wright family if it was his core position the state did not facilitate the murder, Prof English said: "It seems to me that on the basis of the political context and the political evidence which I have seen, it seems distinctly implausible that it happened, but distinctly implausible does not rule it out."
The inquiry was also told the LVF leader had threatened to go on hunger strike in the run up to the Orange Order's annual Drumcree parade in 1997 if he was not transferred from Maghaberry prison, Co Antrim, to the Maze.
At the conclusion of yesterday's hearing, David Wright dismissed Prof English's evidence on the political background to his son's death saying it was full of personal opinion and journalistic supposition.
The Wright inquiry resumes at 10am today in Banbridge Courthouse when it will hear expert evidence from a former governor of an English prison.