AN inquest has been ordered into the murder of former IRA commander Gerard 'Jock' Davison.
Mr Davison was shot dead as he walked to work through the Markets area of south Belfast in May 2015.
The circumstances of his murder were shrouded in controversy after Belfast man Kevin McGuigan (53) was also shot dead outside his Short Strand home in August 2015.
Also a former IRA man, at one time he and Mr Davison had been close allies.
Mr McGuigan, who denied any involvement, had presented himself to police for questioning after Mr Davison’s murder.
Police later blamed members of the Provisional IRA and Action Against Drugs for the McGuigan killing but said there was no information to suggest it had been sanctioned or directed at a senior level in the republican movement.
In March 2017, Mr Davison's case was closed by a coroner and his family informed of the decision.
However, it is understood that the 47-year-old's children later asked for an inquest to be held.
Solicitors representing them were told earlier this week that an inquest will now go ahead and preliminary hearing will take place in the new year.
An inquest into the death of Mr McGuigan is already underway.
The decision to grant an inquest comes after it emerged that police had information that there was a gun at a specific address in the Markets two weeks before Mr Davison was killed.
Details of the weapon, a Russian Marakov handgun with no previous ballistics history, emerged after the case was referred to the Police Ombudsman by then PSNI chief constable George Hamilton.
It related to "an alleged failure by police to deal appropriately with anonymous information which suggested that a gun was being stored at a specific address in the Markets area of south Belfast".
Solicitor Michael Brentnall, of Brentnall Legal, said Mr Davison's family asked that an inquest be held "on the basis that no inquest or criminal proceedings had taken place, and that significant questions remain about the murder".
"New evidence has emerged that the PSNI were aware that a weapon was present in the Market area, for a two week period, before Mr Davison’s murder," he said.
"The PSNI were found to have failed to act on specific information by the Police Ombudsman, which our clients suggest if acted upon, may have prevented the murder of their father."
Mr Brentnall also revealed that new information has recently come to light.
"Moreover, other substantial information has been received by our office which raises further significant questions around the circumstances of, and subsequent investigation into, the murder of Gerard Davison, that will form the basis of the submissions to the inquest," he said.
