Cell Death Dissident's Family 'Seeks Truth'

The family of a convicted republican who died in police custody at the weekend have voiced concerns over the death.

Forty-year-old John Brady was being held at Strand Road PSNI station when he is believed to have taken his own life.

He was arrested on Friday night over an alleged assault, and was found dead in his cell on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Brady was jailed for the murder of a police officer in a 1989 bomb attack. He was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 2003, but his licence was later revoked.

The republican was on weekend released when he was arrested on Friday.

Mr Brady's sister, Lorna, said she would seek out the truth surrounding the circumstances of his death.

"I campaigned for justice for John when he was alive and I'm willing to campaign in his death, she said.

"Because until the day I die I want to find out the truth.

"Five weeks to go until he should have been released and this happens."

The decease's mother, Margaret, said her son's "war was over" but knew "the dangers he faced".

She told the BBC: "John's done 18 years inside and I've waited for this day, the day he would be released for good, but he'll never be released now."

Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson has launched an investigation into the death, and is awaiting the outcome of a post-mortem examination.

Last year Mr Brady was charged with planting a bomb under the vehicle of a former RIR soldier in 2002.

However, the accusations were dropped due low copy DNA evidence against him.

In 1991 Mr Brady pleaded guilty to detonating a booby-trap bomb device under the car of RUC Reserve Constable David Black.

Mr Black was murdered close to his home on the outskirts of Strabane.

(PR/BMcC)