The mother of a Co Down schoolboy who died within days of receiving a combined measles and rubella vaccine has been boosted in her High Court battle over the scope of a second inquest.
Anne Coulter was granted leave to seek a judicial review on an issue over legal aid funding for next of kin at the planned new hearing into the death of her son Christopher in 1994.
Putting on hold another part of the challenge to the coroner's decision not to run a more enhanced, Article 2 inquest, a judge also expressed "profound concern" at wider delays surrounding the case.
Mr Justice McCloskey said: "This has been hanging over the family for 24 years, and that is a frankly highly disturbing figure."
Christopher Coulter, from Hillsborough, was aged 15 when he died, 10 days after receiving the combined measles and rubella (MR) vaccine.
In 1995 the original inquest found he had died from asphyxiation due to a severe epileptic fit.
But with no history of epilepsy in the family, his parents continued to believe the vaccine played a part.
In 2012 Northern Ireland's Attorney General, John Larkin QC, ordered a fresh inquest into the teenager's death, describing the case as being of "enormous public importance".
Mrs Coulter was challenging the coroner's decision that Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which places a duty on the state to safeguard life and take steps to investigate following a death, is not engaged in the new proceedings.
Deciding to stay that element of her challenge, Mr Justice McCloskey stressed the coroner had not made an inflexible ruling and could revisit the Article 2 issue at a later point.
A second part of the challenge centres on the provision of legal aid for lawyers to represent the Coulter family during the inquest.
"There are very strong indications that the coroner did not do so, and the court does not hesitate to grant leave to apply for judicial review against that aspect of the coroner's decision," the judge said.
The case was adjourned until later this month.
