GAA President Jarlath Burns joins family of murdered GAA official Sean Brown as they continue legal battle for public inquiry

THE family of the murdered GAA official Sean Brown have continued their fight for a public inquiry into his death with a judicial review.

Marching towards Belfast High Court on Thursday morning, Mr Brown’s widow Bridie was supported by GAA President Jarlath Burns as well as other families affected by legacy cases including the Ballymurphy massacre and McGurk’s Bar Bombing.

It follows steps this week by the Labour government to repeal controversial legislation to address the legacy of the Troubles.

This would reverse a ban on civil proceedings for Troubles cases and end conditional immunity for those cooperating with a new truth recovery body – the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

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A further promise was made to introduce legislation to restore inquests, including those previously halted by the legacy act.

Mr Brown (61) died in May 1997 after he was attacked and beaten by a LVF gang as he locked the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC in Co Derry.

Placed in the boot of his own car, he was then taken to a country lane outside Randalstown in Co Antrim where he was shot six times.

Earlier this year, an inquest into his death collapsed after the coroner said the PSNI and MI5 had failed to disclose vital information.

A request to the British government from the coroner, Patrick Kinney, for a public inquiry was also rejected in September.

Issues raised in the inquest included that more than 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents.

Speaking to the Irish News outside Belfast High Court, Sinn Féin MP John Finucane said there was “overwhelming support” for the Brown family, and that only a full public inquiry had the capacity to deliver the truth.

He also said more was needed from the Labour government to reverse the “toxic” effect of the legacy act.

“We need to see more than just civil cases reopening. The immunity provisions were always disapplied as soon as our courts had made their determination on it, so we need to see this moving forward in a way that has families and victims front and centre at the heart of the process,” he said.

Mark Thompson from the Relatives for Justice campaign group, said: “The coroner has already ruled on this, this needs a public inquiry. Why are we back in this court, why has this family been dragged back here so many times?

He added: “It’s harm on top of harm, it’s torture for the families. We could get on and get this done, but the reality at the bottom line in all of this is that the British state don’t want the truth coming out about collusion, about its role and tactics in this conflict.”

Representing the Ballymurphy families was John Teggart, whose father Daniel was one of 10 people shot dead by British soldiers in 1971.

“We stand in solidarity with the Brown family. Hopefully by the end of this two-day hearing we’ll get the conclusion that they should get a public inquiry into the murder of their loved one,” he said.

“The ICRIR, they make it out that it will get full disclosure but that’s wrong. Kenova (the investigation into British agent Freddie ‘Stakeknife’ Scappaticci) didn’t get full disclosure.

“There were documents the British state held back. Hilary Benn is selling the ICRIR as having full disclosure, but there’s still this feed in from the British government about what the family can get, what the family can see.

“It’s all about the truth, and the truth lies in the disclosure about what the state are hiding for all these years.”

He added: “The Labour government have a lot of work to do to get trust from the victims, they’re not friends of the victims at the moment.”