Editorial: NI appeal court must be taken to UK supreme court

A striking feature of the way that legacy is panning out in Northern Ireland is that the courts themselves are almost never criticised.

​Not until Mr Justice Humphreys issued his appalling verdict in the Clonoe inquest, in which he found that the SAS had not been justified in killing a heavily armed IRA murder gang in 1992, had a ruling been criticised.

Various verdicts, orders and findings against the state from legacy cases and inquests, which sustain the imbalanced way the past is being examined, are typically met with a general, and unspecified, criticism of legacy.

This shows you the deep respect that there is for the courts, to the point of undue deference. But, while it is important to acknowledge that judges have a difficult and important role navigating complicated legal cases, it is also essential the rulings are subject to scrutiny and open to criticism, as finally happened after the Clonoe finding, which has led to a file being sent to prosecutors. It is welcome that the MoD is challenging that finding.

Another Humphreys ruling – that London must hold a public inquiry into the 1997 murder of Sean Brown by loyalists – was unanimously upheld by the NI Appeal Court yesterday (the lady chief Justice, Ms Justice Keegan, by Mr Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Horner).

That was an evil, sectarian murder. As the DUP and the Labour NI secretary Hilary Benn have said, the Brown family have suffered greatly and deserve truth and justice. That cannot be the issue at stake however, given that hundreds of victims of republican terror lack such truth.

It would be quite wrong, given the existing imbalance in Troubles probes, to exacerbate it with a Brown inquiry costing millions on basis of a court order. This must go to the Supreme Court, and if they find the same then the UK government has further proof that European Convention on Human Rights means decision making by judges.​​​​​​​