Family speaks out over custody death
The family of the man who died in police custody in Londonderry have spoken out as they await the results of a post mortem examination.
40-year-old well-known dissident republican John Brady was found dead in his cell at Strand Road PSNI Station on Saturday. He had been arrested in Strabane on Friday and was being held for questioning about an alleged assault incident.
His sister Lorna Brady – who heard the news of her brother’s death from his solicitor – says the family are barely coping with the sudden death.
“To be honest, I think we’re on auto-pilot at the minute – just waiting, just waiting for his body. We just want to bring him home and bury him.”
Brady, from Lisnafin Park in Strabane, was jailed in 1991 after pleading guilty to killing RUC Reserve Constable David Black in a car bomb attack near the Co Tyrone town.
He was freed in 1998 as part of the Good Friday peace agreement’s early release scheme but returned to custody five years later after breaking the conditions of his licence.
Last year, he was accused of leaving a bomb under the car of a former Royal Irish Regiment soldier in Sion Mills, Co Tyrone seven years ago. However, the Crown case against him was dropped after concerns about low copy DNA were highlighted in the Omagh bomb trial.
Republican sources have said Brady committed suicide while in police custody because he could not face going back behind bars.
However, the family disputes that.
Lorna Brady, who spoke to her brother just hours before his death, said: “I know John’s one of the strongest people you could ever meet … he was so family-orientated, he would never have put my mother through that. Because he knows it’ll kill my mother – he’d never have done that to her, ever.”
According to his sister, John rang her and said: “Don’t worry, kid, it’s only a minor clitch. We’ll get over it – I think I might be getting charged. If I don’t get chatting to you in court, I’ll give you a ring.”
The family say they need to find out the truth, but that they are not confident they will ever gain closure.
“Taking them (Police Ombudsman investigators) at face value, I do believe that they will give John’s case a thorough investigation – but at the end of the day, people close ranks. And through no fault of their own, maybe they won’t reach the truth either.” his sister said.
