The UDA killing of Loughlin Maginn more than 30 years ago sparked a sequence of events that played an important part in exposing security force collusion with loyalist murder gangs.
In the weeks after his murder the UDA claimed Mr Maginn was a member of the IRA. In a bid to substantiate their claim the loyalist group published documents and a video of RUC intelligence.
The emergence of the documents resulted in the establishment of the Stevens I Inquiry.
In the decades since his killing, further evidence has emerged linking the RUC, UDR and other British army units to loyalist hit squads.
In recent years a series of damning Police Ombudsman reports have concluded that "collusive behaviour" took place in some cases where Catholics were murdered by loyalist gangs.
Two UDR men were subsequently convicted of Mr Maginn's murder.
In his 2012 report into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, Sir Desmond de Silva said that the UDA had broken into a UDR base in Co Down in December 1988.
It was also revealed that intelligence agencies had become aware of a plan by the group to carry out the break-in in early December to obtain intelligence on republican suspects.
He said that British army Force Research Unit (FRU) agent and UDA intelligence officer Brian Nelson "was able to provide some intelligence prior to the UDA accessing the base and provided detailed intelligence to his handlers after the break-in".
The report confirmed that at the time a decision was taken by the RUC not to prevent the UDA from obtaining the UDR intelligence.
Da Silva reported that an MI5 internal note recorded the following discussion with the RUC.
"[L/03] was planning to break into a UDR camp on 2 December to photograph some intelligence reports … We agreed that this was … odd … a view endorsed by D/HSB when I spoke to him subsequently.
"D/HSB (Deputy Head of Special Branch) advised that ‘since the UDA already had lots of this stuff anyway’ and that they would find nothing of value there was little to be gained by trying to prevent [L/03’s] activity.”
The intelligence obtained included a video tape of a UDR briefing featuring a number of individuals including Mr Maginn.
The de Silva report states that a FRU 'contact form' dated December 1988 confirms that Brian Nelson viewed the tape "and also noted that the UDR members had apparently offered ‘refuge’ in the local barracks to the UDA hit team".
"The UDA targeted a number of individuals featured on the tape but subsequently selected Maginn as a target," de Silva confirms.
The video tape was subsequently shown to journalists, which prompted the Stevens I investigation.
The family of Mr Maginn, who was a member of the IRA, are understood to have received a significant settlement yesterday.
Speaking outside court, Mr Maginn's daughter, Grace Maginn, welcomed the development.
"While the settlement by the police and MoD (Ministry of Defence) offers some comfort it will never forgive the actions of those who entered our home that night nor the agents of the state who sent them to kill our daddy," she added.
