Court affirms ruling ordering government to hold public inquiry

The Court of Appeal has affirmed a High Court ruling ordering the government to hold a public inquiry into the murder of a GAA official who was killed by loyalists.

Sean Brown was shot dead in 1997 after being abducted outside a GAA club in Bellaghy, County Londonderry.

Appeal Court judges said the order compelling Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn to establish an inquiry would come into effect on 2 June.

Benn has already signalled his intent to challenge the lower court ruling in the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court.

He had sought more time to consider the Court of Appeal judgement made in Belfast in April.

But after hearing submissions, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said judges were “minded to finalise this case today by way of dismissing this appeal”.

“We therefore are minded to affirm the order of the lower court,” she said.

The family of Mr Brown were applauded by a crowd of supporters as they arrived at the court on Friday morning.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald were among those who supported the Brown family outside court.

Speaking after the court hearing, Sean Brown’s daughter Claire Loughran said the family felt “relieved” and “vindicated”.

She said they “do not feel there is any alternative” to a public inquiry and urged the secretary of state to “do the right thing”.

“Do not drag this out any longer,” she said, promoting applause from supporters gathered outside the court.

She said Benn has another four weeks to “change his mind”.

“We want this very much to be about Sean Brown, about getting to the truth.”

The family’s solicitor, Niall Murphy, said the family were relieved at the “strong, firm, unambiguous” order from the court to hold a public enquiry.

“The position is now crystal clear,” he said.

Speaking outside the court, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald urged the secretary of state to do “the honourable thing in convening a public inquiry”.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the Northern Ireland secretary was “living in a fool’s paradise if he thinks the Brown family are going to go away”.

O’Neill said the court had been clear to “get on with it”.

The court ruled previously that the government’s refusal to hold an inquiry was unlawful, but Benn confirmed on Wednesday the government was planning to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The NI secretary had asked the Court of Appeal for more time to fully consider the judgement.

At the court hearing on Friday, a barrister for the secretary of state said he had “asked for some additional time” to consider the Court of Appeal judgement.

Tony McGleenan KC said they were “resolutely opposing a mandatory order in this case”.

He said it was “not constitutionally appropriate” for the High Court to order the government to hold a public inquiry.

Des Fahy KC, representing the Brown family, said the government’s submissions were “in reality a request to the court by the secretary of state to continue to break the law”.

He said a “further four-week delay in our submission allows that illegality to continue”.

“The Brown family’s position is as follows: if the secretary of state is going to appeal this to the Supreme Court, he should get on with it,” he added.

Speaking at Westminster on Wednesday, Benn said he remained determined to have a “full, thorough and independent investigation” into Mr Brown’s murder.

The first minister has described the government’s decision to challenge the ruling as “cruel and inhumane”, while SDLP leader Claire Hanna has called the move “appalling”.

Sinn Féin MP John Finucane has said the government’s decision to appeal the court ruling was “a continued affront to a grieving family”.

On Thursday, Mr Brown’s daughter, Siobhan, labelled the UK government as “disgraceful” for how it informed her family about its decision to challenge the ruling.

“We were distraught at the fact that this information had been released without the family knowing in entirety,” she told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

“To suddenly hear it being broadcast, it’s disgraceful.”

Ms Brown accused the government of treating her family with disrespect and of trying to undermine them.

She referred to her 87-year-old mother Bridie’s appeal to Benn last month not to make her go to London to campaign for an inquiry.

“My mother made an impassioned plea to Hilary Benn, not to take her to London, that’s fallen on deaf ears, that’s the route we now have to go,” Siobhan Brown added.

Mr Brown was locking the gates of GAA club Bellaghy Wolfe Tones when he was kidnapped by the Loyalist Volunteer Force ( LVF).

Early last year, a court heard more than 25 people, including state agents, had been linked by intelligence material to Mr Brown’s murder.

In March 2024 a coroner said Mr Brown’s inquest could not continue due to material being withheld on the grounds of national security.

He decided that redactions of intelligence material meant he could not properly investigate the circumstances of the killing.

Instead, he wrote to the then Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, requesting a public inquiry into the case.

In December, the High Court ruled that current Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn must set up a public inquiry into the murder.

The government then appealed against that ruling, mounting a legal challenge to the Court of Appeal.

However, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said it was “a shocking state of affairs” that more than 25 years had passed but there had been no “lawful inquiry into the circumstances” of Mr Brown’s death.

After that ruling, Mr Brown’s family said Benn should “do the right thing”.

Mr Brown’s widow spoke directly to the NI secretary, saying: “Five judges have told you what to do, do the right thing and please don’t have me going to London.”