Lord Justice Horner last month gave the government a three-week deadline to agree a way forward with legal representatives of Geraldine Finucane, Mr Finucane’s widow.

If they failed to reach an agreement within that three-week window, which has now expired, the judge said he would give a further three weeks for the parties to make rival proposals for the court to choose between.

The UK government yesterday asked the court for more time to agree a way forward.

In a statement issued by Madden & Finucane Solicitors, Mrs Finucane said the request is “another frustrating delay”.

“My family and I have had to tolerate many delays over the course of the last 35 years and all of them were frustrating,” she said.

“However, this is a serious matter that requires careful deliberation. If the UK government needs further time to come to a considered decision, then I will not object to a reasonable period being allowed for this to happen.

“However, my position remains that a statutory public inquiry is the only mechanism capable of exposing the truth behind my husband’s murder.

“My family and I do not accept that processes without statutory powers of compulsion, such as ICRIR, are capable of achieving the required outcome in this case.”

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. That decision led to further litigation and was quashed by Northern Ireland’s High Court in December 2022.

The Court of Appeal last month ruled against the government in an appeal concerning two judgments in that course of litigation.