Supreme Court to hear Government appeal in Sean Brown public inquiry case

The Supreme Court will later hear a Government appeal against a court ruling that ordered it to hold a public inquiry into the killing of a GAA official in Northern Ireland.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Sir Chris Bryant is challenging a decision by Appeal Court judges in Belfast that affirmed an earlier High Court ruling compelling the Government to hold a public inquiry into Sean Brown’s murder.

Last year the Court of Appeal ruled that the ongoing failure to hold a public inquiry in the case was unlawful.

Sean Brown’s widow Bridie Brown (centre), daughter Clare Loughran (left) and daughter Siobhan Brown (right) outside Belfast’s Court of Appeal last year (PA)

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Mr Brown, 61, the chairman of Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA Club in Co Londonderry, 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 the killing, which is one of the most controversial of the Troubles.

Preliminary inquest proceedings in 2024 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.

Mr Brown’s widow Bridie, 89, and her children had urged the Government not to take the family to the Supreme Court.

Last year’s decision to appeal was made by Sir Chris’s predecessor as Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn.

At the time, Mr Benn contended the case involves a key constitutional principle of who should order public inquiries, the Government or the judiciary.

The Irish government has been supportive of the Brown family’s long campaign for a public inquiry.

Clare Loughran (left) and her mother Bridie Brown (right) holding a picture of her father Sean Brown (Liam McBurney/PA)

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Speaking ahead of the hearing, Mr Brown’s daughter Clare Loughran said it was “extremely frustrating” for her family to be back at court.

She said her mother had not been physically fit to travel to London, after having been at every one of the 57 previous court hearings.

“We didn’t want to be here,” she told BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday morning.

“We thought whenever we had the judgment of five different High Court judges to say that a public inquiry was the only way to fully investigate and independently investigate my father’s murder, we thought that was it.

“But unfortunately, the Secretary of State saw it otherwise.

“It’s been incredibly difficult, incredibly frustrating but we’ll keep this fight on for as long as we need to, until we get the answers, until we get the justice that daddy deserves.”

In a direct appeal to Sir Chris, Ms Loughran said he “has the ability to right the wrong of his predecessors”.

“Mummy stood outside the court after the Court of Appeal decision to say, ‘do not drag us to London’, and he (previous secretary of state Hilary Benn) did,” she said.

“Sir Chris Bryant has the ability to right the wrongs of his predecessors. He has ability to deal with legacy.

“People are watching this case very closely, and I think at this time he has the chance to deal with legacy in the right way and gain the confidence of the people in the north.”