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LONDON, England, April 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The brother of a pro-life Irish celebrity is now suing police after being cleared of unfounded accusations that damaged both his and his sister’s reputations.
John Brown, 67, one of the brothers of Irish Catholic pop-star and politician Dana Rosemary Scallon (commonly referred to as “Dana”), is suing Scotland Yard and the British Crown Prosecution Service for £5 million (almost 7 million US dollars). According to online Irish newspaper Extra.ie, Brown “initiated proceedings at the High Court in London for alleged malicious prosecution and misfeasance in a public office.”
Brown had been accused of historic sex abuse offences against children at a time when the public and police were keenly interested in such cases among the rich and famous. Brown and Dana have always denied these allegations, and Brown believes that police did not properly investigate the case, but were interested in prosecuting him, in the aftermath of revelations about the late Jimmy Saville, because he was the brother of a celebrity.
In 2014, Brown was found not guilty of five counts of sexual assault against two middle-aged women who claimed he had touched them inappropriately as children. The first accuser, Brown’s niece Susan Gorrell, first made her allegations in the USA in 2008, during a business dispute between Brown and her parents. In 2011, during her campaign to be elected President of Ireland, Dana told an interviewer that the sex abuse claims levelled at her brother were “vile and malicious.” For this, Dana’s and John Brown’s niece, and her mother, their sister, Susan Stein began a legal action against the pro-life politician for defamation. Subsequently, in 2012, Gorrell filed an official complaint against her uncle for the abuse, which she said had taken place in the 1970s in London, Torquay, and Iowa. Susan Gorrell also accused Dana of covering up the incidents.
Dana became world famous in 1970 after winning the “Eurovision Song Contest” for Ireland. After a successful pop career, she became known for Catholic devotional music. In 1997, at the behest of Catholic and other Christian groups in Ireland, she entered Irish politics, running as an independent candidate for the presidency, which went to Mary MacAleese. In 1999, Dana won a seat in the European Parliament. During her 2011 bid for the Irish presidency, Dana’s brother John was her media liaison officer.
John Smeaton of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children told LifeSiteNews that Dana had sacrificed her performance career in order to champion the pro-life-cause and that her important advocacy was damaged by the “false allegations” against John Brown.
“She was knocked out of the public debate on abortion in Ireland when false allegations were first made against her brother,” Smeaton stated by email.
“What has happened in Ireland since represents perhaps the world’s biggest pro-life setback: the Irish people voting for abortion.”
In a public statement, Smeaton revealed that he knows the family well.
“False allegations resulted in outrageous charges against John Brown, Dana's brother, who was completely vindicated on five counts by the unanimous verdict of a court in north London,” he wrote on Facebook yesterday.
“The case against him was shredded in court but John's life and career, and Dana's courageous work in politics defending the unborn and their mothers, were also in shreds,” he continued.
“I pray that the police will think twice before pursuing innocent people who perhaps they think can't fight back. They will have to think twice in future because of John’s heroic fightback which has cost him and his family dearly, health-wise and financially. I know them well and they have kept on fighting not for their own sakes but in order to honour God. Pray for them please.”
In 2011, Michael D. Higgins won the Irish presidential elections with 56.8% of the vote.