The mother of the Co Down woman killed by an IRA bomb more than 30 years ago has launched legal action against the PSNI chief constable and Ministry for Defence.
Joanne Reilly died after an IRA bomb exploded close to Warrenpoint RUC station in April 1989.
The 20-year-old had been working in a builders merchants nearby when the 1500lb device detonated.
Lawyers acting for her grieving mother Anne have now alleged that a British agent may have been involved in the attack.
In a letter to police, KRW Law referred to claims made about the killing in a book written by former agent Peter Keeley, who is also known by the alias Kevin Fulton.
Although he claims not to have been involved in the attack he reveals that the bomb included newly a developed microswitch.
The British agent claims the device was made in south Armagh before being transported to its target.
In correspondence to the PSNI it is claimed the device passed through “a number of security checkpoints” in the south Armagh and Newry areas while on its way to Warrenpoint.
It is also suggested that RUC Special Branch allowed this to happen.
Lawyers say that the first of four telephone warnings were then made around 30 minutes before the bomb was due to explode and that no attempt was made to clear the area.
Solicitors for Mrs Reilly say that the organisation's south Down unit was also involved in other incidents, including the deaths of IRA man Colum Marks, shot dead by the RUC in Downpatrick in 1991, and RUC woman Colleen McMurray, killed by the IRA in Newry in March 1992.
They add that in these incidents and others there is evidence that there were advance warnings that the attacks would take place.
Solicitor Kevin Winters, of KRW Law, said: “This case is taken against a back drop of enhanced exposure of state- PIRA collusion in South Down/ Newry in the late 1980s/early 90s.
“The Reilly family have been denied a proper inquest and anything resembling a proper police investigation into their daughters murder.”
Mr Winters said the case of Ms Reilly fits in with a patten of "collusion".
“Joanne Reilly was meant to be a forgotten statistic - that is particularly so if viewed in isolation as just another random incident - in this case the accidental detonation of a device meant for others
“However her parents are reluctant litigants in a case that fits into a much wider tapestry of collusion at this time in the conflict."
