Sean Brown murder: Court of Appeal affirms ruling on public inquiry

On Friday, senior judges affirmed an earlier judicial determination but put implementation of the mandatory duty on hold for four weeks.

Mr Benn now seems set to mount a further challenge at the Supreme Court in London against findings that the Government has unlawfully refused to hold a public inquiry.

Mr Brown, a 61-year-old father-of-six, was abducted by a Loyalist Volunteer Force gang as he locked the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA Club back in May 1997.

He was bundled into the boot of his car, taken to Randalstown in Co Antrim and shot dead. No-one has ever been convicted of his murder.

It emerged last year that state agents were among more than 25 people linked by intelligence to the killing of Mr Brown.

Last Month the Court of Appeal upheld a previous ruling that the Government remains in breach of a legal obligation and must establish a statutory probe without further delay.

Mr Benn was given a deadline of Friday, May 2 to confirm a process for complying with those findings.

But in a move which angered the Brown family, he announced an intention to seek a further appeal against the verdict.

In court on Friday, counsel for the Secretary of State also requested another four-week extension.

Tony McGleenan KC argued that more time was needed because the decision-making process cut across a number of Government departments.

Opposing the mandatory order first made by the High Court, he contended: “It is not constitutionally appropriate.”

But lawyers representing Bridie Brown, the murdered GAA official’s elderly widow, strenuously resisted the application.

Desmond Fahy KC submitted: “It is in reality a request by the Secretary of State to continue to break the law.”

He told the three appeal judges that Mr Benn had a binary choice to make.

"Either convene a public inquiry… or allow the state of illegality to continue,” Mr Fahy stressed.

Formally dismissing the Government’s appeal, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan confirmed that a judicial command remains in place.

"We are therefore minded to affirm the order of the lower court,” she said. “This does not prevent the Secretary of State from embarking on a process he has undertaken, (and) to communicate a further decision to the Brown family on this issue.

"In light of that indication and to facilitate the process, we will stay the operation of the mandatory order until June 2.”

In a bid to avoid any further delay, Dame Siobhan also formally dismissed the Government’s request for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

However, Mr Benn can now apply directly for a further hearing before justices at the UK’s highest court.

Amid suspicions of potential security force collusion in Mr Brown’s murder, an inquest was halted last year due to the extent of confidential material excluded or withheld on national security grounds.

The coroner wrote to the previous Conservative Government requesting the establishment of a public inquiry.

In September Mr Benn confirmed that those calls had been rejected. He instead recommended that the bereaved family should engage with the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), a new body set up under the controversial Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Act.

The Court of Appeal has previously ruled that parts of the legislation breaches human rights law, with the Government having too much power to prohibit the Commission from sharing sensitive information and uncertainty about effective participation for next of kin.

Even though the Labour Government has pledged to repeal the Act, it intends to retain the ICRIR and is also currently seeking to challenge those findings made against it.

Mr Brown’s 87-year-old widow has now won two legal battles against the decision not to set up a public inquiry into her husband’s death.

In December, a High Court judge ordered Mr Benn to establish a public inquiry after finding the Government remains in breach of an investigative duty under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lawyers for the Government appealed his ruling on the grounds, arguing that it was legally and constitutionally wrong to make a mandatory order while there is still legal uncertainty over the status of the Legacy Act and the ICRIR.

They further contended that the financial bill for a Commission-led process would be just a fraction of any public inquiry while achieving the same outcome.

Counsel representing Mrs Brown responded that the decision to compel the Secretary of State to set up a public inquiry in a bid to finally uncover the full truth about state involvement in her husband’s murder was unimpeachable.

The GAA official’s killing was described as “an indelible stain on the body politic of this state”.

Appeal judges were told his elderly widow has attended court nearly 60 times in her legal battle to ensure the Government finally complies with its obligation to effectively investigate the death of her husband.

In an initial judgment delivered last month, the Lady Chief Justice identified a “clear and unambiguous obligation” to establish a statutory probe.

She stated at the time: “This is a shocking state of affairs in that a quarter of a century has passed since Sean Brown was murdered and yet there has been no lawful inquiry into the circumstances of his death.”