British secrecy slapdown for PSNI, coroners

Hopes that British Direct Ruler Chris Heaton-Harris will accede to a call by a coroner for a public inquiry into the 1997 murder of GAA official Sean Brown have faded after it emerged that he politically intervened in a related inquest in an attempt to suppress information being released to the families of the deceased.

Heaton-Harris (pictured, left) is said to be deciding this week whether a public inquiry will be held into the murder of Sean Brown. Mr Brown, a 61 year old father of six from Bellaghy, County Derry, was abducted and murdered on May 12 1997. An instructor at the Ballymena Training Centre, Mr Brown played an active role in the GAA.

An inquest into his killing began last year, but coroner Justice McKinney last month said it could not continue as material was being withheld on the grounds of British ‘national security’. He wrote to Mr Heaton-Harris requesting that a public inquiry be held.

Public-interest immunity (PII) hearings, which were held behind closed doors, had revealed that up to 25 people, some of whom were state agents and a serving British soldier, had been linked to the murder of Mr Brown – the first time the family’s suspicions of collusion were officially confirmed.

This week, outgoing Taoiseach Leo Varadkar gave his support to the family and their campaign for a public inquiry into his killing.

Referring to the ongoing controversy over the British government’s Legacy Act, which is being challenged by the Dublin government at the European Court of Human Rights, Mr Varadkar said the limited information revealed during Mr Brown’s inquest “underlines the ongoing value of, and need for, human rights compliant processes to address legacy cases”.

The Brown family said it “welcomed this positive and constructive intervention by the Taoiseach” in support of the coroner’s recommendation that a public inquiry be convened and appreciated his “recognition of the harm caused to us” by the PII process.

They said it aligned with the views of the High Court judge Justice Kinney and the PSNI chief Jon Boutcher.

However, it has now emerged that Heaton-Harris has sought to block information being passed to family of murdered Catholic man Fergal McCusker. He has been accused of “an unprecedented political intervention” as it emerged he had written to Jon Boutcher questioning his actions.

The details came to light during an inquest hearing on the murder of Fergal McCusker in Maghera, County Derry, as he made his way home from a night out on January 18, 1998.

No-one has ever been charged with the Catholic man’s murder, although four loyalists were arrested and later released. Mr McCusker’s family believe there was collusion between a loyalist LVF death squad and the British state, and that there are links with the Brown murder.

Barra McGrory, acting for the McCusker family, raised serious concerns after Heaton-Harris made the intervention.

During a hearing in Belfast, the coroner heard how the British Direct Ruler referred to comments made by Boutcher (pictured, right) about another High Court case as “unwelcome”.

Both Heaton-Harris and Boutcher launched a failed legal challenge last month to stop a coroner providing a gist, or summary, of intelligence about the killing of Paul ‘Topper’ Thompson in West Belfast in April 1994.

In a statement Boutcher said he “accepts the judgment” and welcomed “the clarity that it provides”.

But Heaton-Harris wrote to the PSNI chief to insist Boutcher abide by a blanket ‘neither confirm nor deny’ (NCND) policy and to cease making public comments on inquest issues.

According to Mr McGrory, Heaton Harris wrote to Boutcher about the “deep concerns shared across government that the developing trend in Northern Ireland towards departures from NCND”.

“And that in my respectful submission is a political statement,” Mr McGrory said.

The McCusker family lawyer, Pádraig Ó Muirigh, of Ó Muirigh Solicitors, said they are concerned by the development.

“This is an unprecedented intervention by the British government in this inquest to curtail very important information being provided to the McCusker family,” he said.

Urgent Appeal