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Coroner delays postman's inquest as family seek access to papers

DOUBT has been cast over the future of an inquest into a Belfast postman who was murdered 11 years ago, a court heard yesterday. Catholic Danny McColgan (20) was shot dead by the UDA as he arrived for work at a sorting office in the loyalist Rathcoole area in January 2002. A preliminary hearing in Mays Chambers, Belfast, heard that his family were seeking a judicial review of a funding decision by justice minister David Ford that could prevent their legal team reading all of the relevant inquest papers. "It is a fundamental issue," barrister Fiona Doherty told the court. An application for legal aid to fund the High Court challenge has been submitted and is awaiting approval by the Legal Services Commission. Coroner John Leckey told the brief hearing he was not prepared to start the inquest until all parties had knowledge of all the relevant papers. "I agree it is a fundamental issue. It is fundamental that the team reads all the papers," he said. "The urgency of this should be stressed. "If this inquest cannot proceed in October, I cannot see when it would be held knowing what is in front of me for the next year."

Nobody has been convicted of the killing of the postman, who was from the Longlands area of Newtownabbey. Initially the UDA used the Red Hand Commando cover name but later admitted it had carried out the shooting itself.