The family of murdered GAA official Sean Brown has said the “sinister” reason for his killing needs to “be outed”.
His daughter Siobhan Brown was speaking after the British government challenged a court ruling to set up a public inquiry into the Co Derry man’s murder.
A show of support will take place outside the High Court in Belfast on Thursday morning, which is expected to be attended by Mr Brown’s 87-year-old widow Bridie.
The Westminster government lodged an appeal after it was found to be in breach of a human rights obligation to probe the full extent of state collusion in the May 1997 murder.
Mr Brown (61) was attacked and beaten by a LVF gang as he locked the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC after a club meeting.
Placed in the boot of his own car, he was taken to a country lane outside Randalstown, Co Antrim, where he was shot six times.
It emerged during an inquest hearing into his death last year that more than 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents.
It has also been revealed that a suspect in the murder was believed to be a serving member of the Royal Irish Regiment, while another suspect held a personal protection weapon and was regularly visited by a police officer at his home.
It is also known that an RUC surveillance operation on Mark ‘Swinger’ Fulton, a notorious Mid Ulster LVF member, was halted the night before the murder and picked up again the following morning, while MI5 has claimed it has “no record of any intelligence” relating to the killing despite launching a surveillance operation on senior loyalists a year before Mr Brown’s death.
Last year a high court judge Patrick Kinney, who was sitting as a coroner, abandoned the Brown inquest and wrote to then Tory Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to ask for public inquiry.
Last month a second high court judge, Mr Justice Michael Humpreys, also concluded there needs to be an inquest after a legal challenge by Bridie Brown.
His decision has now been appealed by Labour Secretary of State Hilary Benn.
Siobhan Brown said “the secretary of state is doing everything in his power to prevent the public inquiry going forward”.
“And it’s another step that we now have to face,” she said.
“But we are not going to give up and we are continuing to fight this as long as it takes.
“Because at the end of the day something very sinister is there and it needs to be out as to why my father was murdered.”
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald met with the Brown family this week.
“With the Court of Appeal hearing the full case on Thursday, I call on the British government to stop the delay and cover-up,” she said.
SDLP leader Claire Hanna recently spoke with the family and will attend the court on Thursday.
“Given the established scale of wrongdoing, there must be a full public inquiry to establish exactly what happened to Sean Brown, why it was allowed and why there are continued efforts to suppress that truth,” she said.
Solicitor Niall Murphy, of KRW Law, said the family “consider the Secretary of State’s appeal to be vexatious and without merit”.
“The family reiterate that two High Court judges have directed a public inquiry, that the Chief Constable supports a public inquiry, as does the Taoiseach Mícheál Martin, and it is time for the Secretary of State to reflect upon the legal and political reality of the position, and to abide by the direction of the High Court.”
