The widows of two murder victims who were refused compensation because of their husbands' previous convictions may now be entitled to payouts, following a court ruling yesterday.
In the High Court in Belfast Mr Justice Kerr upheld applications for judicial review of decisions not to compensate the widows of Belfast men John McColgan and Mark McNeill who were shot in separate incidents.
Compensation was withheld by the Minister of State, Mr Adam Ingram, on the grounds that they had been engaged in the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism" and he subsequently refused to direct payments.
Mr McColgan, a taxi-driver, who was murdered by the LVF at Hannahstown Hill in 1998, was convicted in 1987 of possessing explosives and received a two-year suspended sentence.
Mr McNeill, who was shot outside a taxi depot at Shaw's Road in 1998, had been convicted in 1985 of possessing a firearm and served four months in a young offenders' centre.
Mrs Lorraine McColgan, a mother of three, and Mrs Anne McNeill, who has five children, alleged foul play because they were not made aware in advance that the Minister would use the allegations as a basis for his decision.
In yesterday's reserved judgement Mr Justice Kerr accepted the women knew nothing about the allegations. "I have therefore concluded that Mrs McColgan and Mrs McNeill should have been informed of the particular factors which weighed against their applications before the Minister of State took his decision.
"Because of the failure to advise them of these factors and to give them the opportunity to make representations on them I will accede to the application to quash the Minister's decision."