The British administration has instigated a legal dispute surrounding the hearing into the murder of GAA officer Seán Brown, an action that may cause significant delays to a public investigation into his death. The government confirmed on Thursday that a request for a judicial review has been submitted regarding the enquiry into the 61-year-old’s demise.
The Brown family has expressed distress over this turn of events, stating their worry that it could postpone an examination by several years. They viewed the British government’s litigation as an assault on the truth.
In May 1997, Mr Brown was attacked and brutally killed by staunch loyalists while he was securing the entrances of the Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club in Co Derry. His murder remains unsolved with no convictions to date.
An inquest into his assassination was opened last year, however, Mr Justice Patrick Kinney, the coroner, recently confessed that his ability to scrutinise the death was hamstrung due to the considerable amount of sensitive state information being witheld for national security reasons.
Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris received a letter from him requesting a public inquiry. A verdict is yet to be announced.
Niall Murphy of KRW Law, representing the Brown family, voiced their concern that the government’s legal proceedings is a deliberate effort to embroil them in lengthly litigation, echoing the family’s sentiments that they were merely pawns in a broader scheme by the UK government to justify their contentious approach to past issues.
Before the enquiry concluded, it was revealed that up to 25 people, including state agents, were implicated in Mr Brown’s assassination, thereby officiating the family’s longstanding suspicion of covert collaboration. This information was made public during hearings for public-interest immunity, which were conducted confidentially.
The policy of neither confirming nor denying the disclosure of agents’ identities has been adhered to by the UK government for a considerable stretch of time. An official from the UK government voiced that due to the matter now being under judicial inspection, it won’t be suitable to comment further at this point, as alluded to in a terse statement concerning its legal stand.
Backing the plea of the Brown family for a public investigation are Leo Varadkar, the previous taoiseach, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, and the president of GAA, Jarlath Burns. Post the discoveries associating 25 individuals with her father’s assassination, Siobhán Brown declared that her family had anticipated 27 years for this situation.
Speaking to the BBC, she expressed that her father’s life was unjustly taken from him even though he always treated everyone equally. Being a Catholic and the chairman of their GAA club were the causes behind his demise.
Mr. Murphy stated last Thursday that due to the Secretary of State’s inability to make a decision within the stipulated period in response to the high court’s instruction to initiate a public examination, he has been directed by the Brown family to engage in legal action.