Northern Secretary Peter Hain has agreed to meet the father of a loyalist murder victim whose death is at the centre of a major collusion inquiry.
He pledged to hold talks with Raymond McCord as part of his near-nine year campaign for justice.
Mr McCord's son Raymond Jr, a 22-year-old former RAF operator, was beaten to death by an Ulster Volunteer Force gang and dumped in a quarry outside north Belfast in 1997.
No one has ever been charged with the killing, and allegations that the terrorist unit was shielded because special branch agents were involved are being investigated by the Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's.
Her report, widely expected to contain explosive findings, is due to be published later this year.
Mr McCord described Mr Hain's intention to meet him as a significant breakthrough.
"After eight and a half years I'm entitled to the truth," he said. "I have been calling on secretary of state after secretary of state to meet me face to face, and this is the first one that has agreed."
Mrs O'Loan's investigation has focused on the role of Mark Haddock, who once ran the UVF's Mount Vernon unit in north Belfast. Haddock (37) survived an assassination bid when he was ambushed and shot by former associates in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim last month.
PA