The funeral took place Tuesday of a Northern Ireland prison officer shot dead in an attack blamed on dissident Irish republicans violently opposed to the peace process.
David Black, 52, was gunned down on Northern Ireland’s main M1 motorway as he drove to work at Maghaberry jail, southwest of Belfast. His car veered off into a deep ditch.
Inmates at the high-security male prison were among those who have paid tribute to Black, Reverend Tom Greer told the funeral service at Molesworth Presbyterian Church in Cookstown, in the centre of the province.
Black, a father of two, was a regular at the church.
A kilted bagpiper led the funeral cortege and prison staff formed a 20-strong guard of honour. The coffin was draped in the British flag.
“David Black was a man of honour and principle, a man of kindness and generosity, a man committed to peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland — all those things completely the opposite of the murderous thugs and bloodthirsty criminals who took David’s life,” Greer told the congregation.
“It is so terrible that evil men with such hatred in their hearts should rob us of a great man like David with love and kindness in his heart.”
Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson attended the service, as did the province’s police chief and Britain’s Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers.
The justice ministers of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were present, along with some of Northern Ireland’s political party leaders.
The 1998 peace accords largely ended 30 years of sectarian bloodshed between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. But dissident republicans from the Catholic community remain opposed to the settlement.
Roy Patton, the head of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, said the killing was an attack on everyone in the province.
“As a people we stand together as those who have chosen a different way than the way of violence, that we have no desire whatsoever to be dragged back into the darkness,” he told mourners.
A vigil, attended by several hundred people, was also held outside Belfast City Hall.
Three people have been arrested, and later released, on both sides of the Irish border in connection with the murder.
No group has claimed the attack.
Funeral held for slain N. Ireland prison officer
