AN inquest is to be held into the death of a loyalist `disappeared' victim - but not until 2020.
Coroner Patrick McGurgan said yesterday he was satisfied that Glengormley loyalist Mark Gourley is dead.
Due to a backlog, the inquest is not scheduled to take place until June 15, 2020.
The 36-year-old, from Mountainvale Road, was reported missing on March 7, 2009. Police described him at the time as a vulnerable individual and said he was on medication when he disappeared.
But in 2013, the missing person case was upgraded to a murder investigation.
Mr Gourley is believed to be the first loyalist 'disappeared' victim, and is understood to have been abducted and secretly buried by a breakaway faction of the UDA.
Once described in court as a "loyalist foot-soldier", he was last seen in the Burney's Lane area of Glengormley.
A date for the inquest could not legally be set until the coroner had deemed he was satisfied that Mr Gourley was dead.
Speaking yesterday at a sitting of the Coroner's Court at Belfast's Laganside House, Mr McGurgan agreed that regular reviews of documentation, including sensitive and non-sensitive material, will be held before the inquest.
