Interview loyalist over witness claim judge told

Mr Justice Henry Barron is  being urged to interview a Co Down loyalist who claims he witnessed the 1976 murder of forestry worker Seamus Ludlow.

 A solicitor representing the victim's relatives is to write to the judge calling on him to contact Paul Hosking who has admitted being present when the murder occurred in the border region.

 Mr Ludlow's nephew Jimmy Sharkey revealed that the family also planned to urge Justice Baron to speak with Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in relation to the RUC's role in the murder investigation.

 Mr Sharkey last night said the family feared that Justice Barron, who investigated the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, would attempt to limit the scope of his probe to the garda investigation.

 We're very worried that Justice Barron will do nothing more than give a few guards a slap on the wrist and that's it," he said. Relatives are continuing to call for a public inquiry into Mr Ludlow's murder and the garda investigation which went dry after 1979 and led to no convictions.

 "We want a public inquiry. At the end of the day we want to achieve the truth. We now believe that the killers will never go to jail but we want the people who suppressed evidence to be named," said Mr Sharkey.

 He claimed that during a meeting between the Ludlow family and police ombudsman in March last year, Mrs O'Loan indicated that she would be willing to co-operate with any inquiry in the Republic.