A brother of the murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has said his family will judge the Government “by their actions and not their words”.

Belfast republican Seamus Finucane spoke as Secretary of State Owen Paterson considers the demand for an independent inquiry into the 1989 killing. That decision is not now expected until after the May Assembly elections.

Pat Finucane was shot dead at his north Belfast home by loyalist gunmen, but his family wants an inquiry to examine collusion — to probe who wanted the solicitor dead and who directed the deed.

Seamus Finucane was part of a small audience invited by the group Relatives For Justice to meet the American civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson in Belfast at the weekend.

On the specific demand for an inquiry into his brother’s killing, he said: “The community at large are watching to see what the British Government will do.

“And if they don’t deliver on previous promises to us, then what hope has other families?”

Asked if he was any more convinced that the Government would establish an inquiry, he responded that his family “will judge them by their actions and not their words”.

At the weekend event, Rev Jackson said Prime Minister David Cameron should “have, as they did in South Africa, a truth and reconciliation hearing”.