A GUN used in the murder of a Catholic doorman almost 20 years ago has been linked to other loyalist killings, a coroner's court has heard.
A barrister representing the PSNI told a preliminary inquest that forensic tests had been carried out on the weapon used in the loyalist shooting of Seamus Dillon in December 1997.
Martin Wolf said: "The weapon used in the killing of Mr Dillon was, by a process of ballistics tests, established as being linked to other terrorist atrocities."
Mr Dillon (45) was shot dead by the LVF at the Glengannon Hotel near Dungannon where he worked as doorman. The father-of-three from Stewartstown in Co Tyrone was gunned down in an apparent revenge attack hours after LVF leader Billy Wright was shot dead by the INLA inside the Maze prison.
An inquest into Mr Dillon's death has been scheduled to start on November 10 and will not be heard in front of a jury.
Northern Ireland's senior coroner John Leckey said his decision to sit alone had been "reinforced" by the direction of High Court judge Mr Justice Stevens in a previous case.
Earlier, lawyer David Heraghty representing Mr Dillon's widow, Martina, said she did not wish to have a jury.
Solicitor Aiden Carlin, for the victim's brother, told the hearing that although his client had "no strong or firm view" on the proposal to have a jury he was in favour of it, "in principal".
Meanwhile, it was also revealed that a number of witnesses have not yet confirmed their attendance at the forthcoming inquest.
The coroner said he would be asking the PSNI to "personally" serve summonses issued by the court.
Mr Leckey also requested an explanation for the blanking out of names on documents supplied by the PSNI and said anyone who was likely to be mentioned at the inquest should be notified.
"I regard that as the responsibility of the PSNI", he said.
In March Mr Leckey rejected requests to widen the inquest to include six other loyalist killings, saying that a public inquiry was the most appropriate way of investigating alleged links between the series of deaths in the mid 1990s.
Relatives for Justice director Mark Thompson meanwhile said he believes there was collusion in murder of the Mr Dillon.
"Relatives for Justice believe that collusion was a key factor in the attack that killed Seamus and left fellow doorman, Christy Cummings, permanently paralysed," he said.
"[The doormen's] actions that night in preventing loyalists from entering the premises undoubtedly saved countless lives.
"The weapon used in the attack came from a consignment of weapons imported from South Africa in the late 1980's by MI5 via its agents within loyalism."
The justice campaigner said members of the LVF gang were former members of the Mid Ulster UVF who worked security force agents.
"The fact that there have been no prosecutions in scores of UVF and LVF attacks across this region speaks volumes," he said.