The British government could be forced to produce conclusive evidence that former army agent Brian Nelson did in fact die last month.
It was reported on April 14 that the UDA double agent had died of a massive brain haemorrhage, but the Ministry of Defence has consistently refused to reveal exactly when or where he died.
It was claimed that Nelson had been living under a new identity in either Canada or Florida after he was released from jail in 1996, having served a five-year jail term for conspiracy to murder.
Nelson's death was announced just four days before Sir John Stevens was due to publish a report on British army and RUC collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of nationalists.
Nelson, who infiltrated the UDA for the British army's Force Research Unit (FRU), was at the very centre of those allegations.
Nationalists have continued to call for details on how, where and when Nelson died following the announcement of his death almost five weeks ago.
Now solicitors acting on behalf of the family of Terence McDaid, who was shot dead in May 1988 as a result of information supplied by Nelson, may go to court to seek written proof of Nelson's death.
The potential court challenge comes as another alleged FRU agent, Freddie Scappaticci, continues to deny that he operated as a mole within the IRA.
Mr McDaid, a father-of-two, was shot dead in front of his wife and family when UFF gunmen burst into the living room of his north Belfast home.
It later transpired that Mr McDaid had been killed after Nelson sent the UFF gunmen to the wrong address.
Nelson made four telephone calls to his army handlers on the night of Mr McDaid's murder.
It was normal procedure that all calls Nelson made to his handlers were taped and transcribed, but when the Stevens team searched for the tapes years later, they had gone missing.
Nelson was eventually arrested in 1990 and charged with 34 separate offences, including the murder of Terence McDaid. But when the case came to court the next year murder charges and other serious offences against him were dropped.
Kevin Winters, solicitor for the McDaid family, last night said: "If it turned out that Mr Nelson was still alive, he could well be a defendant in a series of civil actions which various victims' families may be preparing against the MoD.
"As no evidence has been produced to conclusively show that Mr Nelson is in fact dead, I have been instructed by my clients to seek such evidence from the MoD.
"I would hope that the MoD would accomodate us with these details, but if they failed to do so we would obviously have to consider going to the courts to have this information declared to the relevant parties."
