Programme revisits 1997 killing

Sean Brown's body was found in a burned out car

BBC's Crimewatch programme has reconstructed the 1997 murder of a GAA official killed by loyalists in County Londonderry as he left his local club.

Sean Brown, 61, was shot dead by the Loyalist Volunteer Force after being abducted in Bellaghy.

A GAA match was recreated for the programme and poet Seamus Heaney and Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Robin Eames interviewed.

Crimewatch producer Michael Armit said it was a particularly brutal murder.

"This is a very significant case for us, because Crimewatch in our 20-year history has only done about seven cases in Northern Ireland," Mr Armit said.

"Most people are very familiar with the case, although it's kind of slipped to the back of their consciousness, so the aim of the film is to remind them."

New investigation

Mr Armit said the killing had been horrendous and "unnecessarily brutal".

He said he hoped the reconstruction would strike "a very emotional cord, because what we're hoping is that people's allegiances have changed in the past seven years".

Last year Sean Brown's family reached agreement with the chief constable on how a new investigation should proceed.

It followed a critical report from the police ombudsman on the original RUC investigation into the 1997 killing.

In January 2004, Nuala O'Loan said she had upheld two complaints from Mr Brown's family about the RUC inquiry into his murder.

These were that the investigation had not been "efficiently and properly carried out" and that "no earnest effort was made to identify those who had carried out the murder".

A new team of investigators, including officers from outside forces, is carrying out the investigation.