THE family of a Catholic boy murdered by the notorious Glenanne gang will launch a legal challenge against the PSNI chief constable this morning.
Edward Barnard has applied for leave to judicially review the failure of the now disbanded Historical Enquiries Team to complete a 'thematic' investigation into the UVF gang, which included members of the RUC and UDR.
His 13-year-old brother Patrick was one of four people who died in a bomb blast at the Hillcrest Bar in Dungannon on St Patrick's Day in March 1976.
The Glenanne gang is believed to
have been responsible for killing as many as 120 people in sectarian attacks across mid Ulster in the 1970s.
Relatives of some of those killed are expected to attend the High Court in Belfast this morning.
The Barnard family solicitor Peter Corrigan said it is an important case.
"It is a landmark case for victims of the British state, who colluded with loyalist murder gangs in the murder triangle in the 1970s," he said.
The case is being supported by The Pat Finucane Centre.
Anne Cadwallader, above, who works with the centre and who has written a book on the Glenanne gang, said bereaved families have
only received "silence and obfuscation" from the state.
"They lost their relatives in the most traumatic of circumstances and, over the succeeding three decades, have been lied to by both the RUC and the British political establishment," she said.
"London would be well advised to cut its losses at this stage and admit its servants and agents were involved in systemic collusion throughout the conflict. The alternative is lengthy, costly and ultimately self-defeating legal action."