A report to be published today by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman is expected to identify serious deficiencies in the way the RUC investigated the killing of a prominent GAA officer by loyalist gunmen in 1997, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor
Mr Seán Brown, the chairman of Wolfe Tone GAA club in Bellaghy, was abducted by the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) as he locked up the clubhouse after a meeting. He was found shot dead the following morning.
The police Ombudsman, Ms Nuala O'Loan, carried out a review of the RUC investigation at the request of the Brown family.
One informed source said last night: "The ombudsman takes the original investigation apart and shows where it went wrong. It is fair to say it is a damning report."
In delivering her findings in Belfast this morning she is expected to call for a renewed, comprehensive re-investigation of the murder of Mr Brown, who was a well known and respected figure in Bellaghy, Co Derry.
She is expected to go through the original investigation in forensic detail and highlight many inadequacies into how police handled the case.
Mr Brown was abducted as he was locking up the club premises for the night in May 1997. His body was discovered 10 miles away near Randalstown in Co Antrim, beside his burning car. He had been shot six times. It remains unclear whether he died at the scene or whether he was shot dead at the GAA club. A shot was heard near the GAA club that night and there was also evidence that Mr Brown was beaten at the club, if not actually killed there.
It was suggested at the time that his killers, by driving to Randalstown, may have been trying to make a link with the INLA murder of off-duty RUC constable Darren Bradshaw in Belfast three days earlier. Constable Bradshaw was buried on the day of Mr Brown's murder.
While it is more than six years since the killing, it is understood that it is implicit in her report that the Ombudsman believes that the "trail has not totally run cold" and that his killers could still be apprehended.