‘Anger’ in GAA over decision not to hold public inquiry into official’s murder

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

There is “anger” in the GAA over a UK government decision not to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown 27 years ago, Jarlath Burns has said.

GAA president Mr Burns said there were “so many unanswered questions” remaining around the killing.

GAA official Sean Brown, 61, was abducted and killed by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones Club in Co Derry in May 1997.

No-one has ever been convicted of his murder.

Earlier this year, a coroner said his ability to examine the death of Mr Brown had been “compromised” by the extent of confidential state material being excluded from the proceedings on national security grounds.

Preliminary inquest proceedings had already 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.

Coroner Mr Justice Kinney said he would write to the Northern Ireland Secretary to call on the Government to establish a public inquiry into the loyalist murder.

On Friday, it emerged that Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn had written to the Brown family to inform them a public inquiry was “not the best way to proceed”.

Mr Burns told the BBC Sunday Politics programme: “If there was disappointment in the GAA about the Casement (Park) decision, there was quite a lot of anger about this.

“Something that we thought was a random sectarian murder, whenever the coroner’s court began investigating it, discovered that there were 25 people involved, there were many government agents, one of the agents, the surveillance on him was dropped the night before the murder.

“There are so many unanswered questions.”

He added: “It was the coroner who said the only way to find out the truth of what happened to a GAA chairman in Bellaghy was by a public inquiry.”

Mr Benn said he had “enormous sympathy” with the Brown family but encouraged them to contact the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) about investigating the death.

Last week, Mr Benn announced that a public inquiry would be established into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane, who was shot dead in front of his family at their Belfast home in 1989.

The attack, carried out by the Ulster Defence Association, was found by a series of investigations to have involved collusion with the state.

Mr Benn said he based the decision on the “exceptional reason” that a UK government had committed – more than 20 years ago – to hold an inquiry into Mr Finucane’s murder, which had remained “unfulfilled”.