Sean Brown’s family with wife Bridie and six children, GAA career and legacy

Sean Brown was a husband, father of six and a dedicated GAA man before his death.

The 61-year-old was kidnapped by loyalists as he locked the gates of the Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club in May 1997.

He was taken in the boot of his own car to an area near Randalstown, County Antrim, where he was shot six times and killed.

Read more: Patrick Kielty opens up about his father’s tragic death ‘He was shot on my brother’s 18th birthday’

As of 2024, no one has been convicted of his murder.

GAA career

Sean was heavily involved with the GAA and his local club, Bellaghy Wolfe Tones Club in County Derry.

In total, Bellaghy won 21 Derry Senior Football Championships, four Ulster Senior Club Football Championships and the 1971-72 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship. Their camogie club has also won two Derry Senior Camogie Championships.

The club’s main field is named after him: Páirc Seán de Brún.

His family continued his legacy in the sport, with his daughter Claire coaching U14 girls.

Family

Sean was married to his wife Bridie for many years.

The couple had six children together, including daughters Siobhan and Clare, and son Sean.

In March, a coroner called for a public inquiry into Sean’s murder after ruling the case could not proceed due to the withholding of sensitive files.

Mr Justice Kinney said his ability to investigate the death had been “compromised” as confidential state material was excluded from the proceedings on national security grounds, ITV News reported.

A British government spokesperson responded that they had applied for permission for a judicial review into the investigation.

Sean’s daughter Siobhan explained that this was an insult to her father and her family as they tried to come to terms with it.

“My father was an innocent victim in all of this, he didn’t deserve to die,” she said.

“He was just doing his normal daily duties.”

She continued: “We feel it is an insult to us as a family, but also to the memory of my father.”

Are dead

Sean’s wife Bridie previously told how she went looking for him the night he died because she didn’t know he had been kidnapped and murdered.

“If he was going to be late he would have let me know, he would have been very considerate,” she said on Murder of a GAA Chairman.

“At half past one in the morning I grabbed a flashlight from the cupboard and decided to take a walk to the club.

“I came onto the field and went in through the turnstile and had the torch with me and shone it around and walked around the buildings again.

“No, there was no one around, not a sinner, no cars, nothing.”

She thought someone had gotten sick and her husband probably took them to the hospital.

However, at 6:30 am two RUC men appeared on the street where the Brown family lived.

“I thought, ‘Something’s going on, so I just went up to them and said, ‘My husband didn’t come home last night, where’s his body?'” she added.

Bridie continued, “Every time the police officers came into the house, they were anything but nice,” she said.

“Every time they came in, they said very little.”