The decision by Mr Justice McCloskey to withdraw yesterday from hearing the high profile legal challenge to the Police Ombudsman's ruling of collusion in the Loughinisland case was clearly the appropriate outcome in the circumstances.
While the judge concluded that the legal test for standing aside had not been met, he still felt that the Loughinisland families deserved the opportunity of 'having this case heard by a differently constituted court.'
Mr Justice McCloskey deserves full credit for his announcement during what had become a complex and hugely sensitive judicial review at the High Court in Belfast.
It had emerged that, before becoming a judge, he had acted as a lawyer for one of the retired police officers taking what was regarded as a similar legal challenge to the former Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in 2003 about the Omagh bombing.
Mr Justice McCloskey said he had no recollection of the previous litigation, and lawyers stressed that no one was in any way calling into question his judicial independence.
However, arguments about what was referred to as the potential perception of unconscious bias had to be taken seriously, and it will be widely felt that the judge made the correct call yesterday.
The entire affair reflected the enormous legal difficulties surrounding legacy cases and the complete failure of politicians to develop credible structures for dealing with unresolved issues from our troubled past.
There will be overwhelming sympathy for the ordeal endured by the relatives of victim of violence on all sides and it is essential that they receive all possible official assistance in their long search for truth and justice.
