A coroner due to hold a new inquest into the 1976 death of Co Louth forestry worker Seamus Ludlow has still not received a copy of an internal Garda report into the murder investigation.
Co Louth coroner Ronan Maguire yesterday (Monday) confirmed that he had requested a copy of the 1998 report compiled by Chief Superintendent Ted Murphy.
The Garda chief was ordered to carry out the internal inquiry by the commissioner following a campaign by Mr Ludlow's relatives.
Mr Maguire, who was instructed to conduct the inquest by the Republic's Attorney General Rory Brady last year, said that the report was among a number of documents he had still not received from gardai.
The document, which has never been made public despite calls from the Ludlow family and human rights groups, is believed to confirm that gardai knew the names of bachelor's suspected loyalist killers as early as 1979.
It is understood that Mr Murphy concluded that Garda headquarters had received the suspects' names from the RUC but the information was never acted upon.
Following the completion of the Murphy Report four men were arrested in Northern Ireland by the RUC and a file was sent to the north's DPP but no prosecutions followed.
Mr Maguire told the Irish News that he had recently received a number of other documents from gardai, including photographs from the crime scene and the post mortem.
He has shown the photographs to the Ludlow family's solicitor, adding that he believed the gardai were being hampered by the length of time that had elapsed since the murder. He hopes to meet with gardai later this week to discuss his request for further documents, including the Garda boss's report.
Mr Maguire said that he hoped that the inquest could be opened before the end of the year "for the sake of the family who have waited so long for this to happen".
Describing the Coroners Act 1962 as "a little bit restrictive", Mr Maguire said that he would be prevented from considering matters of civil or criminal liability or naming suspected perpetrators.
The victim's nephew Jimmy Sharkey, who was 21 at the time of the murder, last night expressed doubt that the inquest would take place before Christmas.
"There have been so many delays involving the gardai handing over information that I couldn't see the inquest happening before Spring 2004," he said.
Mr Sharkey also said that he was "disappointed but not surprised" that the coroner had yet to receive a copy of the Murphy Report.
Forty-seven-old Seamus Ludlow was found shot dead on a country lane north of Dundalk on May 2 1976. He had earlier been abducted after leaving a local pub.
Relatives had called for a fresh inquest after the gardai neglected to inform them that the original hearing had been scheduled for August 19 1976.
They have also alleged that security forces on both sides of the border worked together to shield the killers, one of whom they suspect of being a British agent.
