The UK government has moved to challenge a court finding that its failure to hold a public inquiry into the sectarian murder of GAA official Seán Brown was unlawful.
Northern Secretary Hilary Benn said in a statement on Wednesday that he has sought leave to appeal the judgment to the UK’s supreme court.
The ruling was made in a challenge brought by Mr Brown’s 87-year-old widow, Bridie Brown.
Three judges at the Court of Appeal in Belfast found in early April that the UK government breached a human rights obligation to investigate the full extent of state collusion in the case. Its refusal to order a public inquiry into the murder was unlawful and “cannot stand”, the court held.
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The court did not make a mandatory order to compel Mr Benn to establish a statutory inquiry. Instead, it gave him four weeks to “reflect upon the judgment”.
In his Wednesday statement, Mr Benn confirmed he has also filed applications to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal “seeking an extension of time for decision-making” regarding its judgment. A four-week deadline for him to consider his position is due to lapse on Thursday.
He said the “detailed” court ruling “requires a full and considered response”.
Mr Brown, a father of six, was locking the gates at Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club in Co Derry when he was abducted and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1997. No one has ever been convicted of the 61-year-old’s killing.
Last year it emerged that up to 25 people, some of whom were state agents, were linked through intelligence to the murder.
Mr Benn on Wednesday repeated his commitment to ensuring a “a full, thorough and independent investigation” into the killing.
He said his request for leave to appeal to the supreme court is made “given the approaching deadline” for an appeal and “in case that should ultimately be necessary”.
Describing Mr Brown’s murder as “brutal and despicable”, Mr Benn acknowledged lengthy delays to “find answers” have exacerbated the Brown family’s pain.
He added that the UK government is determined to take the “necessary steps” to repeal and replace the controversial Legacy Act “to ensure that we have a legacy system that is capable of delivering for all families who lost loved ones during the Troubles, and who are seeking answers”.
Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Colum Eastwood accused Mr Benn of “dragging” Mrs Brown to the supreme court in a “grotesque” move.
The UK government’s decision to appeal the judgment is “wrong morally and ethically”, Mr Eastwood added.
In January, the Brown family branded Mr Benn’s decision to legally challenge a High Court ruling ordering him to set up a public inquiry as “shameful”.
The “real blockage” to an inquiry “is in London”, they said.
Tánaiste Simon Harris last week said Mr Brown’s family has waited “too long” for truth and justice.
