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Funeral takes place of daughter of IRA murder victim Jean McConville

Agnes McConville passed away on Sunday. Picture by Wave Trauma Centre/ Twitter
Agnes McConville passed away on Sunday. Picture by Wave Trauma Centre/ Twitter Agnes McConville passed away on Sunday. Picture by Wave Trauma Centre/ Twitter

THE funeral took place yesterday of the daughter of IRA murder victim Jean McConville.

Family and friends gathered at St Patrick's Church, Dromintee, near Newry to say their final farewells to Agnes McConville.

The mother-of four from Dromintee had passed peacefully at Daisy Hill Hospital on Sunday surrounded by her family, following a battle with cancer.

Earlier this week, Wave Trauma Centre said that Agnes had been 13 years-old when her mother was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972.

"She never forgot her mum and never missed a mass to remember all those Disappeared," it said.

"One of her final visits before she died was to her mum and dad's grave to bring flowers.

"May she rest in peace."

Jean McConville, a mother of 10, was taken from her west Belfast home before being shot and secretly buried. Her body wasn't found until 2003 at a beach in Co Louth.

She was one of nine people who later became known as the "Disappeared".

The death of Agnes comes just over a year after her brother Billy McConville passed away, aged 50.

He died in July 2017 without having ever receiving an apology for the abuse he suffered as a child while in the care of the state. Put into care in Catholic-run institutions from the age of six, Mr McConville said he was subjected to sexual and physical abuse.

Just weeks before he died, he made a death-bed appeal through the Irish News for politicians to break the political deadlock to ensure victims of institutional abuse got the justice.

Following the funeral mass yesterday, Ms McConville was laid to rest in the adjoining church cemetery.