Legacy body ‘lacks powers of a public inquiry to examine Sean Brown murder’

The head of a legacy body has conceded it does not have the same array of powers that a public inquiry would to examine the murder of GAA official Sean Brown.

The Irish Government is among those who have backed Mr Brown’s family’s long campaign for a public inquiry.

Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal in Belfast affirmed a previous court ruling, compelling the UK government to hold a public inquiry into his killing.

However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has applied for a Supreme Court appeal on the judicial rulings.

Mr Brown, 61, the then chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries 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 was also 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.

In an interview earlier, Mr Brown’s elderly widow Bridie, 87, said she does not know why her husband was killed, and reiterated her call for a public inquiry into his death to answer the questions her family has.

“I don’t know why they chose Sean, I just do not know because he was the same with everybody,” she said during an interview on BBC’s The GAA Social podcast.

“He treated everybody alike, he walked with both sides of the community.”

She also paid tribute to the turnout of thousands in Bellaghy last Friday evening to support her family’s campaign for a public inquiry.

“It was emotional,” she said.

“Never in my wildest dreams had I thought about so big a turnout.”

Last month, Mr Benn said he is taking steps to ensure that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) is capable of carrying out an independent and rigorous investigation into Mr Brown’s murder.

During an appearance at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, ICRIR chief commissioner Sir Declan Morgan was pressed by SDLP leader Claire Hanna on the Brown case.

Sir Declan said if the case came to the ICRIR, his investigators would carry out a cold case review, a scoping exercise and would treat the case as a criminal investigation and gather all the evidence.

“But I agree that we could not do the next step which is subsequent to that, once the terms of reference have been set, and up to that point, we’re definitely Article 2 compliant,” he told MPs at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.

“But the next bit is having identified what the issues are to then organise a hearing with proper representation by lawyers in relation to that, and also understanding that the sensitive information arrangements, in my view, need to be reviewed and the commission needs to be able to exercise proper challenge in relation to those.”

Speaking outside the meeting, Ms Hanna said the ICRIR in its current form “cannot fully meet the needs of the family of Sean Brown”.

“Today’s comments from Sir Declan Morgan are welcome and shine a light on where the ICRIR falls short,” she said.

“Any further delay to the resuming and restarting of inquests alongside the continued denial of a public inquiry to the Brown family is the British Government delaying truth and justice.

“The SDLP is committed to the delivery of legacy structures that families can buy into. Sir Declan’s comments underline our key concerns about deficiencies relating to participation by families in proceedings and the continued existence of a veto on information by the Secretary of State.”