GAA club show support to family of murdered Sean Brown

Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC has called on the entire Association to support the family of murdered GAA official Sean Brown.

Mr Brown was attacked and beaten by an LVF gang as he locked the gates at the Bellaghy club on May 12 1997.

He was then taken to a country lane near Randalstown where he was shot six times.

Mr Brown’s inquest, which began in March, has been held up due to ongoing PSNI delays in producing disclosure material linked to the murder.

Since his death, more than 40 inquest-related hearings have been held.

Coroner Patrick Kinney, who is also a High Court judge, confirmed the inquest will not resume next month as planned and will take place in March.

Under the British government’s controversial Legacy Act, inquests that have not reached their findings stage by next May will be halted.

The act has been challenged in the High Court by relatives of the dead, while the Irish government has launched an inter-state case against the British government under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC have issued a statement expressing anger at how the Brown family have been treated.

“As a club, as friends and neighbours, we can no longer hold our dignified silence. As a community, we are furious at the treatment of the Brown family and we actively seek the support and solidarity of our wider Association at this time of legal and moral repugnance. As a unit of our Association, we represent what is best about our society, however what we have observed the Brown family endure in recent weeks and months, indeed years, is the lowest, and which can no longer be tolerated,” read the club statement.

The club has welcomed the decision of the Irish Government to take an ‘Inter-State’ case against the British Government to the European Court of Human Rights.

“This is a welcome display of both courage and conviction. It is clear that politicians are now prepared to match the groundswell of public opinion, against the Legacy Act, with political action,” continued the statement.

“What we, as members of the GAA, now seek is that the leaders of the Association show the same commitment, leadership and action.

“We are indebted to the voluntary motions of solidarity reciting expressions of concern, by the recent County Conventions of Derry, Tyrone and Armagh.

“We respectfully request that this correspondence is considered by all units of our Association, at both club and county level, and we ask each chairman or the last person to lock your club gates, is this how you would accept your family, your club, your community, your own dignified memory, to be treated.”