The Attorney General for Northern Ireland, John Larkin, has written to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in support of a fresh inquiry into the shooting of Colum Marks.

Mr Marks, 29, was shot dead on 10 April 1991 during what was thought to be an attempt to bomb Downpatrick police station.

A decision was made in 1993 not to prosecute any police officers involved in the incident.

Mr Larkin has now formally requested that this decision be reviewed.

Solicitor Gavin Booth of KRW Law said: “While the Marks family welcome the referral by the Attorney General to the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the decision not to prosecute the officer, they also feel that this only addresses one aspect of the case.

“It is felt that in this case there are circumstances that have arisen that cannot be addressed in a possible criminal trial alone and that may require wider examination.

“Serious concerns have arisen as to whether Colum’s death was deliberate and whether there was a deliberate concealment of evidence by the unit responsible for his death.

“Further to that it also seems likely that this was a policy decision by those in charge to make no attempt to arrest Colum.

“At this time we are currently engaged in a Judicial Review against the Police Ombudsman for this failure to investigate this case.”