Murder review may take two years

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A police review of the loyalist murder of a GAA official in County Londonderry could take two years, an inquest has been told.

Sean Brown, 61, was abducted and shot by loyalists after locking up a GAA club in Bellaghy in May 1997.

The murder is being re-examined by the Historical Enquiries Team.

A senior HET member told a hearing in Belfast substantial quantities of paperwork and possible links to other cases needed to be reviewed.

John Brannigan said: "Certainly it won't be completed within 12 months, I would imagine it could take as long as two years.

"It is a complex case, it is one we would like to do a complete and thorough review of and that does take time."

Karen Quinlivan, barrister for Mr Brown's family, told the court they may oppose the adjournment of the inquest if they are not satisfied with the effort being made by the HET.

"It just seems an extraordinary length of time in the circumstances where we have already had three separate investigations, all of which have concluded reports and all of which have reviewed the available material," she said.

Nobody has been charged with Mr Brown's murder, which is one of more than 1,800 unsolved killings during the Northern Ireland conflict.

There have already been three separate investigations, including by the police and former Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, into the killing.

In January 2004 former Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan said she had upheld two complaints from Mr Brown's family about the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) investigation into Mr Brown's death.