Government to stand by calls for public inquiry in Sean Brown case

By David Young, PA

The new joint UK/Irish framework on legacy issues will not result in the Government dropping its call for a public inquiry into the Troubles murder of GAA official Sean Brown.

Tánaiste Simon Harris spoke to Mr Brown’s widow, Bridie, on Friday morning to offer reassurances that he would continue to press the UK Government to set up an inquiry.

Mr Harris believes a public inquiry remains the best avenue for truth for Mrs Brown to receive a timely remedy in her case, given she is aged in her late 80s, and the legislative steps to create new legacy structures for investigating unsolved Troubles crimes will take some time to complete.

Despite the wide-ranging deal struck by the UK and Irish governments, the Brown case remains a point of difference.

Earlier this year, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn applied for a Supreme Court appeal on judicial rulings in Belfast that compel him to establish a public inquiry into the 1997 murder by loyalist paramilitaries.

Mr Brown, 61, the then chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Derry town of Bellaghy, was ambushed, kidnapped, and murdered as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997.

No one has ever been convicted of his killing.

Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents.

It had also been alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning.

This year, the Appeal Court judges in Belfast upheld an earlier High Court ruling that compelled the Government to hold a public inquiry.

However, Mr Benn is taking the case onward for further appeal at the Supreme Court, insisting the case involves a key constitutional principle of who should order public inquiries – the Government or the judiciary.

The Labour MP believes that a reformed legacy investigative commission is a more appropriate way to examine the Brown case.

At an event to unveil the new legacy framework in Hillsborough later, Mr Harris is expected to reiterate his call for a public inquiry, making the point that the timeframe for reforming the new-look Legacy Commission is “not immediate”.

“Legislation will need to be laid in Westminster and go through normal parliamentary processes before it is enacted,” he is expected to say.

“The governance changes needed to establish the Legacy Commission will need to be implemented.

“And for that reason, I want to make clear that the Irish Government continues to support the Brown family in their call for a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown.

“The Lady Chief Justice in the Appeal Court made clear the need for a remedy for Bridie Brown ‘within a timescale that is relevant to her’. I will continue to make that case to the Secretary of State.”