Two ministers from the Northern Ireland executive have supported calls by the family of murdered Northern Ireland solicitor Rosemary Nelson for a full judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding her death last year.

Agriculture minister Brid Rodgers of the SDLP and Sinn Fein's Minister for Education Martin McGuinness are among those supporting demands for an inquiry into the murder.

The demands follow news that Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are not to be prosecuted over allegations that they made death threats to the lawyer who was involved in many high profile cases.

The Nelson family were informed of the decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions not to bring any charges against members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary over the controversial case in the past few days.

Mrs Nelson died when a bomb planted by loyalists exploded under her car moments after she drove away from her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh.

Her husband Paul condemned the decision and repeated calls for an independent inquiry.

Mr Nelson said: "This decision by the DPP is another body blow for our family. Nearly 10 months after her death, there is no sign of any commitment to truth or justice for Rosemary."

He added in a statement: "Tony Blair must recognise his responsibility in relation to truth and justice for Rosemary and establish an independent international judicial inquiry into al the circumstances surrounding her murder."

Brid Rogers, of the mainly nationalist Social, Democratic and Labour Party, said it was in the interests of the community and the police that the truth about Rosemary Nelson's death is revealed.

"In the interests of confidence, in the interests of justice, in the interests of truth, the only way this matter can finally be resolved for the family, for the community and, I repeat, for the police themselves is by way of an independent public inquiry," she said.

The decision was also attacked by the Rosemary Nelson Campaign.

Spokesman Dr Robbie McVeigh said: "The sooner we move to an independent international judicial inquiry into the entire circumstances surrounding Rosemary's murder the better."

Sinn Fein policing spokesman Gerry Kelly said he was furious but not surprised at the DPP decision.

"No one can deny that members of the RUC threatened Rosemary Nelson's life," he said.

But he alleged that in every case of claimed RUC involvement in the deaths of nationalists the DPP failed to bring prosecutions.

'Attempt to discredit RUC'

"Once more this force is seen as being able to act with impunity when it comes to its treatment of nationalists."

He said the decision magnified the need to place all decisions concerning policing, the judicial system and human rights in the hands of an independent, international body.

Norman Boyd, Assembly chief whip of the anti-agreement Northern Ireland Unionist Party, welcomed the decision and said the vast majority of the people of Northern Ireland would do so.

He said: "This was nothing more than a failed attempt by republicans to try to discredit the Royal Ulster Constabulary for political purposes."

The murder in March last year prompted immediate allegations of security force collusion in the killing and it was revealed soon afterwards that an investigation was carried out into allegations by Mrs Nelson that she had been threatened by officers.

She claimed the threats had been made through clients of hers when they were being interrogated while in police custody.

A senior officer from a British mainland force was called in to head the investigation into the Nelson murder and her allegations against the RUC.

Reacting to the news, a spokesman for the RUC said: "The allegations made by or on behalf of Mrs Nelson were the subject of an investigation by an officer called in by the Chief Constable (Sir Ronnie Flanagan).

"That officer's investigation was concluded under the supervision of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints who were satisfied with the conduct of the investigation.

"The senior officer's reports were submitted to the DPP who has directed in respect of some of the investigations no prosecutions of police officers."

Husband furious

The RUC has yet to decide whether there should be any internal disciplinary action taken against any officers.

Nine days after Mrs Nelson was murdered on March 15, it emerged there had been a long-running investigation into Mrs Nelson's allegations that she had received death threats from RUC officers.

The threats investigation initially followed usual practice and was carried out by the RUC under the supervision of the ICPC.

But after the murder it was revealed the RUC had been pulled off the investigation nine months before she was killed and replaced with a team of officers drawn entirely from English forces.

In the aftermath of the allegations by Mrs Nelson, the RUC Chief Constable introduced both audio and video recordings of all interrogations by his officers of suspects in custody.