Northern Ireland

Funeral takes place in Belfast of Alex Murphy

The funeral of Alex Murphy took place in Belfast today. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
The funeral of Alex Murphy took place in Belfast today. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker The funeral of Alex Murphy took place in Belfast today. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

A WEST Belfast republican convicted over one of the most notorious killings of the Troubles was "profoundly affected" by decades of violence, mourners have been told.

Requiem Mass for Alex Murphy was celebrated at St Peter's Cathedral today before his remains were taken to Roselawn Crematorium

Draped in a tricolour, Murphy's coffin was carried from his Falls Road home to the church, with men wearing black berets.

The cortege stopped at a memorial garden before arriving at the cathedral.

The father-of-four, believed to be in his early sixties, died peacefully last Thursday.

The funeral of Alex Murphy. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
The funeral of Alex Murphy. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker The funeral of Alex Murphy. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

At the age of 15, he was among the youngest republican internees in Long Kesh prison in the early 1970s. He was one of two men who received life sentences over the IRA killing in March 1988 of corporals David Howes (23) and Derek Wood (24).

They had driven into the path of a funeral for Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, one of three people murdered days earlier in an attack on Milltown Cemetery by loyalist Michael Stone.

The soldiers were dragged from their car and brought to Casement Park where they were stripped and beaten, before being taken to wasteground and shot.

Television crews and an army observation helicopter captured the attack on film, making their deaths among the most harrowing of the Troubles.

The funeral of Alex Murphy. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
The funeral of Alex Murphy. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker The funeral of Alex Murphy. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

Murphy was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement having served about 10 years in prison.

During Mass, priest Fr Martin Graham told mourners Murphy had been "profoundly affected" by the period in which he grew up.

"Last Thursday also marked the fiftieth anniversary of one of the darkest days ever seen in Belfast," he said.

Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

"The burning of the homes in Bombay Street, Cupar Street, Kashmir Road. In some ways what happened up around Clonard was to kick off decades of violence.

"When I was ordained in 1998, I was appointed to St Paul's and being a country boy I had no real understanding of what people went through at that time. But I was to learn it first-hand from those who lived there, those whose lives were deeply and traumatically affected by what happened over those days in August 1969. And not just them but in the many, many years that followed.

Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

"At that time Alec wasn't even 12 but he had grown up with a deep love for his country, culture, language and history and so whenever these things happened, Alec was profoundly affected by it. He was interred in Long Kesh when he was just 15 years old, the youngest internee there and he would be in and out of jail for most of his life."

But Fr Graham said Murphy had other interests including Celtic Football Club, hurling, Gaelic football and boxing at Immaculata.

"He loved to dance up at Clonard Hall and above all of that he loved his family, his parents and brothers and sisters and then his own children and grandchildren as they came along," he said.

"He loved to be with them and they with him, listening to the stories he told, good and bad, watching the football and checking the bets afterwards."

He is survived by his four children and family circle.

Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker