The family of murdered GAA official Seán Brown has described Northern Secretary Hilary Benn’s decision to legally challenge a High Court ruling ordering him to set up a public inquiry into the sectarian killing as “shameful”.
Concerns have also been raised about the timing of the move after an appeal application was formally lodged on New Year’s Eve, with the Browns accusing Mr Benn of attempting to “bury bad news”.
The latest development in the long-running case comes a fortnight after a Belfast High Court judge, Mr Justice Humphreys, found the UK government remains in breach of a human rights duty to investigate the full extent of state collusion in the May 1997 murder.
Mr Brown, a father-of-six, was locking the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club in Co Derry when he was abducted and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries. No one has ever been convicted of his killing.
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His 87-year-old widow Bridie was granted a judicial review challenge by Mr Justice Humphreys, who said there was a “clear and unambiguous obligation” to establish a full statutory inquiry.
In a statement released on Friday the Brown family expressed “deep regret and disappointment” at the UK government response. “Regrettably it would appear that the Secretary of State has decided that our mother will now enter her 88th year still denied the truth of how, why and by whom her husband was abducted, beaten and murdered. This is shameful,” they said.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said it had “enormous sympathy” for Mrs Brown and her family who have “suffered so much” since the killing. But it added that the recent High Court ruling raised a “number of important issues, including matters of constitutional significance that go beyond this individual case”.
“The government has therefore lodged a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal and we are seeking expedition,” it said. “This appeal will not delay the government’s determination to repeal and replace the Legacy Act, and to reform ICRIR [Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery] to strengthen its capacity to find answers for victims and families.”
Last March coroner Mr Justice Patrick Kinney said a public inquiry was “the appropriate way” to examine the full circumstances of Mr Brown’s killing, a call backed by PSNI chief constable Jon Boucher.
The “real blockage” to an inquiry “is in London”, according to the Brown family, a development that raises “profound and deeply concerning questions about collusion and the role of state agencies in this case”.
They added that they would like to put Mr Benn “on notice” that “we will not give up our struggle to get to the truth”.
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