Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn must set up a public inquiry into the murder of GAA official Sean Brown, a High Court judge ordered today.
Mr Justice Humpreys compelled the step to be taken after finding the UK Government remains in breach of a human rights duty to probe the full extent of state collusion in the May 1997 killing.
Granting a judicial review challenge by the victim’s 87-year-old widow Bridie, he held there is a “clear and unambiguous obligation” to establish a statutory probe.
“No viable alternative to a public inquiry has been advanced,” the judge confirmed.
“In these circumstances, there can be only one lawful answer, a public inquiry must be convened to satisfy the state’s Article 2 obligation.”
Mr Brown, 61, was abducted by a Loyalist Volunteer Force gang as he locked the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA Club in Co Derry.
The father of six was bundled into the boot of his car, taken to Randalstown, Co Antrim and shot dead.
No-one has ever been convicted of his murder.
Earlier this year it emerged at an inquest that state agents were among more than 25 people linked by intelligence to the killing.
At that stage the coroner, Mr Justice Kinney, halted proceedings due to the extent of confidential material excluded or withheld on national security grounds.
He 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 already 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.
Even though the Labour Government has pledged to repeal the Act, it intends to retain the ICRIR.
According to Mrs Brown, the decision to deny her a public inquiry into her husband’s murder breached Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Her lawyers argued that it is the only plausible way to expose the full truth of state involvement and the level of protection given to the killers.
Barrister Desmond Fahy KC accepted that the chances of anyone ever being convicted for the killing are “vanishingly small”.
But even though they may have escaped accountability, he insisted the reasons must still be examined.
The widow and members of her family were accompanied by supporters, political representatives and GAA President Jarlath Burns for their legal challenge.
In an affidavit read out in court, Mrs Brown described going to the Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club grounds with a torchlight to search in vain for her husband on the night he failed to return home.
She also recalled police officers attending the family’s house hours later, and her shock when one of them asked why her daughter was crying.
It was claimed that her experiences on the morning after her husband’s murder were emblematic of the lack of compassion and general disregard shown to her and the Brown family by state bodies in the intervening 27 years.
The court heard revelations that state agents were connected to the killing came as a “shock of seismic proportions” to the family.
A Northern Ireland Office paper to the Secretary of State which suggested a further police investigation would be inadequate to meet the Article 2 obligations was also cited during proceedings.
The judge was told how a number of reports have already been heavily critical of the RUC’s probe into the murder.
Former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan found a number of failings and inadequate efforts made to identify those responsible.
In 2022, the PSNI issued a public apology to Mrs Brown for deficiencies in the original probe as part of a settlement reached in a separate civil action over claims that the terrorists who carried out the assassination were protected.
Despite the collapse of the inquest into her husband’s death, counsel described the legal challenge as another opportunity to obtain the correct account of what happened.
It was emphasised that the family wants the Government to be compelled to convene a public inquiry, rather than just “the low hanging fruit” of obtaining a declaration that the current situation is unlawful.
Anything less would permit the state of illegality to continue, their lawyers contended.
Counsel for the Government argued that the challenge involved intruding into the separate role played by the government.
He insisted that the Secretary of State retains the discretion to establish public inquiries.
However, Mr Justice Humphreys said he had no hesitation in finding that the UK Government
“A statement has been made in open court, following a careful analysis of sensitive documents to the effect that a number of individuals linked through intelligence to the murder were agents of the state,” he pointed out.
“This requires a detailed and forensic examination of evidence by an impartial and independent tribunal as it gives rise to an allegation that the state colluded with terrorists in the murder of an entirely innocent man.”
“Previous efforts to investigate this death have been wholly inadequate.
“The inquest process was frustrated at every turn by the failure of the state to comply with
statutory disclosure obligations.
“These failings were so egregious that it led the coroner to question whether the non-compliance was part of a deliberate effort to prevent the inquest from discovering the truth.”
Acknowledging it was an unusual and exceptional step to take, the judge concluded that it was fully justified by the legal principles and facts surrounding the killing.
“After 27 years, the United Kingdom has manifestly failed to investigate the murder of Sean Brown in which state agents were allegedly involved,” he said.
“An 87-year-old widow does not know how, why or by whom her husband was killed.
“Previous investigations have been fundamentally flawed. Information has been deliberately withheld.
“It simply cannot be the case that the state can cite resources and ignore the duty it owes to the Brown family.”
He confirmed: “I therefore make an order of mandamus compelling the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to cause a public inquiry to be held, under the Inquiries Act 2005, into the death of Sean Brown on May 12 1997.”