Northern Ireland’s High Court last month quashed a decision by the UK government not to establish a public inquiry into Mr Finucane’s murder following a judicial review brought by his widow, Geraldine Finucane, nearly two years ago.

The UK Supreme Court previously ruled in February 2019 that the state had failed to deliver an Article 2 compliant investigation into the death of Mr Finucane, who was shot and killed by loyalist paramilitaries in collusion with UK security forces.

The government did not respond until December 2020, when it said it would not establish a public inquiry and highlighted an ongoing “review process” within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and investigations by the Police Ombudsman.

However, the PSNI subsequently said there are “no new lines of inquiry” and the Police Ombudsman said the murder was “not central to any of our ongoing investigations”, which human rights campaigners said challenged the government’s explanation.

In December’s ruling, Mr Justice Scoffield said the UK government had unlawfully failed to reconsider an inquiry after the end of the review process.

Lawyers for Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told the court on Friday that a timescale for a new decision was not yet in place but would be set out early this week.

Mrs Finucane also told the court that she intends to seek damages from the UK government.