The murder of Sean Brown: Inherited trauma in Northern Ireland

Twenty-five years have now passed since the murder of my father’s cousin, Sean Brown. The Troubles legacy bill does nothing to heal my family’s inherited trauma, writes Gemma Brown

Sean Brown and his son Damian were both passionate about Gaelic football (Damán Brown)

On 12 May 1997, 61-year-old Catholic, Sean Brown, was abducted and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries while locking the gates of the Bellaghy Gaelic Association (GAA) club. Twenty-five years later and still no one has been charged with the murder.

The Troubles should be a lifetime away from me, a 22-year-old English girl born and raised in Blackpool. Yet when I was a child the whole thing seemed like a ghost story as my dad would tell me the tale of the murder of his cousin. The assassination of Brown remains an open wound worn by every member of the family.

My dad, Michael, tells me of the man who would drive him and his brother to Gaelic football matches and who built his father a greenhouse – the man who waved goodbye from the port as my dad sailed off to live abroad. “He was our leader,” he says. “Sean took the load for everybody. He was always looking to help people.”