Brown family disgust at further delay in inquest into killing of Sean Brown
The family of Sean Brown have voiced their annoyance after a preliminary Coroners court hearing today was adjourned for a further 2 weeks.
The inquest into the killing of the Bellaghy GAA club chairman has been adjourned on numerous occasions over the last 8 years.
Hopes were raised in January last year that the long overdue inquest would take place but after a continuing failure by the PSNI to progress disclosure of over 40 boxes of material the case was listed for an explanation – none was forthcoming.
The family claim that the tortuous delays only serves to add to their grief and trauma we are instructed to take legal proceedings in the event that the current impasse continues. We didn’t get the necessary assurances that the case was ready to proceed in fact if anything the case has moved backwards. It would appear to us that the serious criticisms of delay in the Coroners courts made by the ECHR have been ignored by the various agencies.
The case highlights yet again the chronic under resourcing of the inquest system in this jurisdiction To that end we have written to the DOJ some time ago asking what steps have been taken to comply with the recent ECHR rulings but to date there has been no meaningful response.
We say that failing allied to interminable delays on the part of the PSNI legacy unit only serves to frustrate families resulting in unnecessary distress.
It cannot be allowed to continue – if it persists our firm instructions are to issue legal proceedings to protect the article 2 rights of our clients. The Brown family now await the outcome of the next court hearing on the 15/1/14.
Statement ends.