Ireland

Shane MacGowan's mother killed in car crash in Republic

Shane MacGowan 
Shane MacGowan  Shane MacGowan 

THE mother of Irish singer Shane MacGowan has died after her car hit a wall in Co Tipperary.

Therese MacGowan, who was in her eighties, was driving the car when it crashed into a wall at Ballintogher, Nenagh, at 3pm on Sunday.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. Mrs MacGowan was the only person in the car.

Her body was taken to Limerick University Hospital where a post-mortem examination is due to be carried out on Monday.

Mrs MacGowan was the first person to die on the Republic's roads in 2017.

The mother-of-two, who was an award-winning singer and model, and her Dublin-born husband Maurice lived in the village of Silvermines, Co Tipperary.

The couple's son Shane is the frontman and songwriter of chart-topping band The Pogues.

The MacGowans moved to England in the 1950s where their son Shane was born on Christmas Day 1957. Their daughter Siobhan was born five years later.

They returned to Co Tipperary but moved back to England when Shane was six.

Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to contact them about the crash.

A total of 187 people were killed on the Republic's roads last year - a rise on 2015 when 162 were killed.