Hundreds of GAA supporters have turned out to support the families of suspected collusion victims Sean Brown and Patsy Kelly as they continue their campaign for justice.
A march was held in support of the families of the two GAA members ahead of Sunday’s Allianz Football League clash between Tyrone and Derry, with crowds of supporters walking from Free Derry Corner to Celtic Park.
Organised by Derry and Tyrone GAA in partnership with the Pat Finucane Centre, the rally saw Mr Brown’s daughter Siobhan address the large crowd ahead of the walk, where she spoke of her father’s legacy and the families ongoing justice campaign.
Mr Brown, an official with Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC, was abducted by LVF members as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997, before being taken to a country lane in Randalstown, Co Antrim, and shot six times.
No-one has ever been convicted of the 61-year-old father-of-six’s murder, and last month a coroner heard that a serving member of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) is a suspect in the killing.
An inquest into Mr Brown’s murder has faced numerous delays, and his family remain concerned over the looming May 1 deadline for inquests to be at the findings stage or face being cancelled under the British government’s new controversial Troubles legacy legislation.
Last year a new inquest into the murder of Patsy Kelly in July 1974 was ordered by the Attorney General.
Mr Kelly (35), an independent nationalist member of the former Omagh District Council, is believed to have been killed as he returned from working in a bar in Trillick, Co Tyrone, and his remains were found three weeks later in Lough Eyes, Co Fermanagh.
A Police Ombudsman’s report last year established there were “significant” investigative failings in the RUC investigation onto the murder, and found evidence of collusive behaviour by some officers. Mr Kelly’s family also suspect the involvement of UDR members in the killing.
His widow Teresa has described the threat of never getting answers through an inquest as “shattering”.
Addressing Sunday’s rally, Siobhan Brown spoke of the lack of justice for her father almost 27 years after his murder, and of how is remembered as a loving father and hugely respected community figure.
“As well as dedicating his adult life to the GAA, he was also an educator at the Technical College in Ballymena. Many young men from south Derry with successful businesses owe their trade to daddy’s education,” she said.
Big crowd of Derry and Tyrone people gathered side-by-side at Free Derry Corner to support the families of Sean Brown and Patsy Kelly pic.twitter.com/6K6idyQ6yx
— Cahair O'Kane (@CahairOKane1) February 4, 2024
Referring to the ongoing struggle amid the new legacy legislation, she said: “We actively seek the support and solidarity of our wider (GAA) Association at this time of legal and moral repugnance. My father and our club, represents what is best about our society, however what we have had to endure in recent weeks and months, indeed years, is the lowest, and which can no longer be tolerated.”
The GAA stands with the families of Sean Brown and Patsy Kelly and their right to obtain truth and justice. pic.twitter.com/yX7omaU1JW
— Maolíosa Mc Hugh-Sinn Féin (@MaoliosaMcH) February 4, 2024
She added: “Every single club has a hard-working chairman, or the last person to lock your club gates. Is this how you would expect your family, your club, your community, you own dignified members to be treated?” she said.
Her family’s solicitor Niall Murphy also spoke before the march, stating of the authorities: “The Brown family have one question to ask - if you have nothing to hide, why has it taken you 26 years to come to court?”
