In perhaps his strongest implied criticism of Belfast judges, for ordering a public inquiry into the 1997 loyalist murder of the GAA official Mr Brown, Hilary Benn reiterated that he was appealing their demand to the UK鈥檚 highest court, the Supreme Court. 鈥淧eople say the Sean Brown case is unique,鈥 Mr Benn told a meeting of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster on Monday. 鈥淎ll murders are unique and uniquely painful for the family, but it is not a unique case.鈥 Under questioning over the government鈥檚 handling of legacy cases, Mr Brown was asked about Mr Brown鈥檚 case. He replied: 鈥淚t鈥檚 an awful, awful case. The murder of Sean Brown was shocking, deeply violent, and this has caused immense suffering to the family, to his widow Bridie and to the wider community, including the GAA family, because of the role that he undertook. 鈥淏ut I came to the conclusion that the [legacy] commission reformed would be capable of looking into it, and there鈥檚 an issue of principle here in respect to the court ruling.鈥 Mr Benn insisted that a reformed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) will be able to deal with the cases. The body led by Sir Declan Morgan, a former lord chief justice for Northern Ireland, was set up by the former government鈥檚 Legacy Act after scores of legacy inquests and other court cases relating to the Troubles were halted. The Kingsmill massacre and the Guildford pub bombings are among cases it is currently looking at. 鈥淯p until this moment, the courts accepted that it is for governments to decide whether public inquiries are ordered, not for the courts. 鈥淲hat the courts have tended to say is, this is the test that has to be met, the way in which the government chooses to meet that test is a matter for governments to decide. There is a margin of appreciation that is made available. 鈥淚n this particular case, the court has decided to order a public inquiry. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court because of that fundamental principle, which is, courts do not order public inquiries, governments do, and that is very important because of the nature of the mandatory order I am not able to do anything else other than order a public inquiry, which I made it clear that the government is not going to do, because I believe there鈥檚 another means of dealing with this case.鈥 Mr Benn told MPs they are working to change disclosure arrangements and to make it compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 鈥淚n the end, we鈥檙e not going to deal with legacy with a whole series of public inquiries,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing all this work to try and create a body which is capable of delivering justice for all, information for all, answers for all. 鈥淭hat is what I am trying to do at the moment because of the incompatibilities identified.鈥 In May the UK government confirmed it will seek a Supreme Court appeal over a court ruling that ordered it to hold a public inquiry into Mr Brown鈥檚 murder. The 61-year-old then-chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. Mr Benn said: 鈥淭his is not a unique case, and I would also say we are not going to deal with legacy by having a whole series of public inquiries. 鈥淭hat is not a way forward. That is why we have to make the reform of the commission to win public confidence. 鈥淭o make it ECHR compliant is so important because then you have a mechanism that you can use to deal with all of them and all of us, the committee, the whole team, everybody needs to be concerned about justice for everyone.鈥 He added: 鈥淚t is open to the Brown family to go to the commission today, the commission will start work on investigating.鈥 Mr Brown said that there are five other cases in the same position.