Solicitor Rosemary Nelson was threatened in a prison diary written by loyalist leader Billy Wright more than a year before her murder, it has emerged.
It is understood that the diary was found by security forces in the LVF leader's cell after he was shot dead by INLA members in the Maze prison in December 1997.
Former colleagues of the solicitor have said they do not believe that she was informed of the diary's contents.
While the diary's existence has already been made public, it has only now emerged that it contained a threat against the solicitor.
It is not known how closely security forces examined the contents of the diary but the fact that it was found 15 months before her murder has revived concerns that more could have been done to protect her.
Wright led the loyalist group most closely associated with the plot to murder the high-
profile solicitor, who was killed in a car-bomb attack at her Lurgan home in March 1999.
Prior to Mrs Nelson's murder, international human rights observers, including a senior UN investigator, had expressed concerns for her safety.
Mrs Nelson had received threats from loyalists and had also alleged that she had been
threatened by RUC officers.
The Belfast-based Committee on the Administration of Jus-tice, of which she was a member, later filed a complaint over the police handling of the threats.
The human rights group has been refused access to papers about her case held by police and the Police Ombudsman but has challenged the decision.
A judicial review is expected to begin at the High Court today. Details of the case have yet to be made public but it is likely to place the case back in the spotlight.
The 40-year-old mother-of-three rose to prominence while representing the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition.
She also represented Lurgan republican Colin Duffy in two high-profile cases in which his conviction for the murder of a former soldier was overturned and charges relating to the murders of two policemen were withdrawn.
In addition, Mrs Nelson represented relatives of Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill, who was killed by a loyalist mob.
