“Unless the HET report is provided in 14 days I will go to the High Court – Mr John Leckey, Coroner’s Office.
THE North’s most senior coroner has threatened to go to court to force Chief Constable Matt (the maggot) Bagott to release the report into the murder of Derry GAA official Sean Brown.
The devolopment came during a preliminary inquest hearing yesterday, the father-of-six’s abduction and brutal killing in May 1997. Mr Brown’s family, their legal team and the Coroner’s Office have been denied access to a Historical Enquiries Team (HET) report which was completed last year. The investigation was launched after the Brown family raised concerns about the police investigation into the sectarian murder, one the most shocking of the Troubles. In an unusual move, Mr John Leckey warned a solicitor acting for the RUC/PSNI yesterday that he would seek a High Court subpoena compelling it to hand over the report. He said he has been “dealing with the inquest for Sean Brown for years and years”. “Unless the HET report is provided in 14 days I will go to the High Court….. to require the chief constable to produce the report to me,” he said. He added that to seek the subpoena was “a procedure of last resort as far as I am concerned”. During the short hearing Mr Leckey also insisted the start date for an inquest into the circumstances of Mr Brown’s death was “set in stone”. It is due to begin in January next year. Mr Brown was abducted while locking the gates of Bellaghy Wolf Tone’s GAA club, of which he was chairman. It is believed the 61-year-old was driven past Toomebridge RUC station to a secluded laneway near Randalstown in Co An trim where he was shot in the head six times. His body was later found beside his burning car.
The LVF is believed to have been responsible for the killing which sent shockwaves through the GAA community. Speaking after yestery’s hearing, the Brown family solicitor Kevin Winters said Mr Leckey’s comments represent “a major breakthrough in the fight for justice for the family of Sean Brown”.
Paul O’ Conner from the Pat Finucane Centre, who attended the hearing with Mr Brown’s son, accused the RUC/PSNI of “dragging their heels for years”. “They have not produced the documention required by the coroner to carry out a proper inquest,” he said. “This has caused untold distress for the Brown family.” A spokesman for the RUC/PSNI last night said: “PSNI are aware of the comments made by the coroner, Mr John Leckey, today and are considering these in relation to the report. Meanwhile a preliminary hearing into the death of Catholic teenager Gerard Lawlor has heard that an investigation by the Police Ombudsman has been given a “new impetus” since ombudsman Michael Maguire took up office in July 2012. Mr Lawlor, a father-of-one, was shot dead by the UDA as he walked close to the Antrim Road in July 2002. A represtative of the ombudsman’s office told the coroner John Leckey that the delay in producing the report into the 19-year-old’s murder was down to “some matters inhibiting our ability to move forward”. “I don’t want to go into details to what they are,” he said. The Lawler family solicitor, Niall Murphy, said he had met with representatives of the Police Ombudsman and had “no objections” to their submissions to the ccoroner.
With many thanks to: Connla Young, The Irish News.
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