THE murder of a leading member of the GAA nine years ago is to be reviewed by PSNI detectives.

Sean Brown, the Chairman of Bellaghy GAC in South Derry was abducted and killed in May of 1998 in one of the most horrific sectarian killings of the Troubles. The dramatic move comes after it emerged that confidential details surrounding current members of the association have been accessed through police computers and passed on to the Ulster Volunteer Force.

The current investigation being carried out by the PSNI into the leaking of the computer data is expected to be only one component of a significantly wider investigation into serious loyalist paramilitary crimes stretching back many years. Three senior members of the Derry County Board are among those that have been identified by the police as being the victims of a potential attack. All three knew the late Mr Brown on a personal basis, both as a friend and as a leading member of the association in South Derry.

A gang of armed men abducted the popular GAA personality as he prepared to lock up the Bellaghy club gates after a late night meeting.

His body, which had suffered a number of gunshot wounds, was later discovered in a remote lay-by nine miles away in Randalstown.

It emerged during his autopsy that the Bellaghy chairman had also been sadistically tortured and burned. Nobody has ever been charged with taking part in the abduction and murder of Mr Brown.

But the general consensus of opinion within police circles is that a gang headed by the notorious Portadownbased sectarian killer Mark 'Swinger' Fulton carried out the cold-blooded execution of the GAA official.

Fulton was later found dead after apparently committing suicide in 2002 by strangulation while on remand in the Maze prison. At the time of his death he was being held on separate terror charges linked to his association with the mid-Ulster-based leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, Billy Wright.

In the aftermath of the murder of the GAA club chairman there was criticism of the scope of the investigation into the killing.

Specific questions were asked both by the GAA and nationalist politicians. They centred on how the vehicles involved in the abduction had been able to pass a police station on the road to Randalstown without being captured on CCTV footage.

The answers given at the time were of a technical nature that failed to satisfy those who were convinced there was complicit collusion, if only at a very minor security force level, in the Brown murder.

The GAA in Derry and at national level have made it clear to the PSNI that they will not accept anything less than a fully transparent investigation into all the circumstances surrounding the latest controversy. Two men from Antrim have already appeared in court in relation to the downloading of personal files and links with the UVF. The information was allegedly gathered as part of a systematic trawl of computer files held as part of the Vehicle Licensing Authority centre in Coleraine.

As part of the linkage between the security forces and relevant centres of computerised social data in the North, civilian police staff can gain direct access to that material.

GAA officials, however, in a face-to-face meeting with senior representatives of the PSNI on Friday, expressed their anger over what they regard "as the unacceptable delay in informing the association that their members faced a specific threat".

It was also pointed out that the information provided by the police gave only minimal content as to the basis and source of the threat. The Sunday Tribune also understands that moves through an independent intermediary are now underway for a possible meeting between representatives of the political wing of the UVF and the GAA.

There are those within the GAA who have serious reservations about the role of the Progressive Unionist Party leader, Dawn Purvis on the Northern Ireland Police Board. The PUP, led by Purvis, is recognised as the influential political voice of the Ulster Volunteer Force following the death of David Irvine earlier this year.

Earlier this month Purvis moved to reassure members of the Relatives for Justice Campaign that they had no reason to fear a UVF attack. A similar meeting between the PUP and the GAA would only take place, however, as long as the sports body was convinced that it was not being exploited for political capital. GAA figures have stressed that their stance is not one based on any opposition to the political agenda of the Progressive Unionists. The GAA line is that it does not have any party political views.

But they believe that the position of Purvis as a member of the Police Board would become untenable unless an unequivocal assurance of safety was provided for its membership. Unless that happens, the GAA view is that the investigation into the wider implications of the targeting campaign allegedly linked to the UVF as well as the murder of Sean Brown will be seen as lacking real credibility.

There is genuine concern in GAA circles "that malign elements opposed to the association playing its full role in the evolving peace process" still wants to carry out sectarian attacks on its members. GAA representatives have demanded answers over how personal details of their membership were provided to the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

Senior GAA sources have told the Sunday Tribune that they want a detailed response over how many of their members, and over what length of time, have been the target of surveillance by renegade loyalists. The police, however, have given a categorical assurance that there was no policy being employed by the PSNI to single out any individual simply on the basis of GAA membership.

Two men, one of them a clerical worker employed as an administrative assistant by the PSNI, have already been arrested and have appeared in court on charges relating to the case. Aaron Hill, 22, who has been suspended from his PSNI role, has been charged with possession of items likely to be of use to terrorists and Breach of the Data Protection Act. Darren Richardson, 33, is accused of having bullets in his possession at his workplace in Ballymena. Both men have addresses in Randalstown. Following the arrests of the two Randalstown men more than 100 people, including the senior Derry figures, were warned that their personal details have been passed to the UVF.

A number of other individuals with links at club level to the GAA in the South Derry and the South Antrim area have also been notified by the PSNI that their personal security has been compromised. One of the senior Derry County Board officials was told that personal information relating to his movements over a period spanning 2002 to 2006 had ended up in the hands of the loyalist terror grouping.

The long-term impact of the alleged supply of confidential information to a terrorist group is viewed by the GAA as being "extremely serious". In particular the security lapse is seen as having the potential for long term damage to the process of building of new relationships between the association and the police.

The revelations that the PSNI computer network has been breached in alleged pursuit of terrorist activities are seen as generating a negative atmosphere surrounding the peace process. The PSNI's commitment to the development of a gaelic sports culture within the service has also undoubtedly been hurt by the recent developments. The scandal will also provide publicity ammunition to those on all sides who are opposed to positive change between the GAA and the police.

PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde, has pledged that the probe into the security breach would not be one designed to "save face for the PSNI".

A complete review of all the procedures relating to the access of information from police computers had now been instigated.

Strict new monitoring and record keeping of all those with access to the social data stored on the police computer network will be part of new controls.

The GAA, however, while accepting the commitment of the PSNI to ensure that its investigation is absolute, says that it still has "serious worries" about the safety of its membership.

The pivotal position of the GAA as one of the main powerbrokers in the new Northern Ireland is now recognised by most of society.

But the events of recent days have shown that not all elements have the stomach to swallow that message.