The father of the murdered Portadown loyalist, Billy Wright, spoke bitterly yesterday after receiving a letter from Mr Tony Blair, rejecting the family's call for a full public inquiry into his son's murder in the Maze prison in December 1997.
He said the British Prime Minister had "treated my family with utter contempt" and said "his contemptuous dismissal of my concerns shows that both Mr Blair and Mo Mowlam are pursuing a republican agenda which has no place in it for my community.
"My son was the victim of a political assassination. His `execution' was sanctioned by the government. Mr Blair knows full well what a public inquiry would uncover.
"Neither he nor his Secretary of State can afford to have the truth placed in the public domain. At the moment the Northern Ireland Office is placing every possible barrier in my path to prevent me uncovering the truth," he said.
Mr Wright said he intends to travel to Dublin to "present my case to the Dail".
