UK Supreme Court reserves judgment on public inquiry into murder of GAA chairman Sean Brown

The British government has appealed, before the Supreme Court in London, against a ruling ordering it to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Bellaghy GAA chairman Sean Brown in 1997.

Submissions were made on Tuesday in front of the five-man court as the Brown family’s 29-year search for the truth of what happened to the 61-year-old reached the highest legal entity in the UK.

The family maintains that Brown was murdered by agents of the British state. He was abducted by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of Bellaghy GAA club on the night of May 12th, 1997, and was taken in the boot of a car and driven 10 miles to Randallstown, where he was shot six times. His body was later found inside the car, which was burnt out. No one has ever been charged with his murder.

The case has reached this point after the coroner in Northern Ireland said in March 2024 that he could not proceed with his inquest because material was being withheld on the grounds of national security. It was stated in court around that time that documentation seen by the inquest team indicated that at least “25 individuals were linked through intelligence to the murder of Sean Brown”.

The coroner then wrote to the Northern Ireland Secretary requesting a public inquiry into the case. In December 2024, the High Court in Belfast ruled that an inquiry should be set up. When the UK government refused to do so, the Court of Appeal called the stance unlawful in April 2025. Regardless, the UK government took its case to the Supreme Court, which led to Tuesday’s hearing.

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“There is a discreet and identifiable cohort of individuals who have seen sensitive material in this case,” said Des Fahy KC, representing the Brown family in court. “These are, as evidenced by the papers, the Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker, the Coroner Mr Justice Kinney, the Chief Constable of the PSNI and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

“Of those, the only individual who has seen and considered that sensitive material and does not conclude that a process akin to a public inquiry with a closed material procedure is necessary to discharge the state’s Article 2 obligation, is the appellant in this case (ie, the Secretary of State).

“Sean Brown’s murder remains both unresolved and uninvestigated. This is the 60th occasion on which Bridie Brown and her family have been in a courtroom of one hue or another, seeking to vindicate their Article 2 rights in relation to the investigation of all of the circumstances surrounding Sean Brown’s murder.

“Sean Brown’s son Damian has died in the period of time that the family [has been] waiting for justice. The respondent in this case is 89 years of age and the prospect that she might not reach the end of the search that began 29 years ago is simply unconscionable.

“On this 60th occasion, my lords, we respectfully submit that the truth and justice the respondent is looking for are not abstract, unobtainable goals. They are clearly within reach in the form of a statutory public inquiry. And that is what, in our respectful submission, the lower courts properly recognise.”

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The hearing was the latest stop on a long road for the Brown family. Over the years, they have had small victories to sustain them. A police ombudsman investigation found serious flaws in the 1997 investigation. The PSNI chief constable apologised to the family and settled a damages claim. But at no stage has anyone been charged, and the family’s long-held suspicion is that people who were being paid by the British state were involved in the murder and are being protected.

The day’s proceedings lasted around five hours in front of five Supreme Court judges. The Secretary of State’s argument leaned heavily on a case that came before the court in May of this year, during which it found that a reformed Troubles Legacy Commission was capable of hearing cases like Sean Brown’s without the need for a public inquiry.

James Eadie KC, representing the NI Secretary, said the decision of the Court of Appeal in March 2025 to compel a public inquiry had been made on the same basis that the Supreme Court had ruled on in May of this year. “That should be the end of this appeal,” he stated.

The five-judge panel said they would return with a judgment as soon as they could.