£50K reward to catch Kerr killers

Ronan Kerr’s remains were taken to his mother’s house in Beragh

The funeral of murdered Constable Ronan Kerr is expected to take place on Wednesday.

His body was brought to his mother’s home in Beragh, County Tyrone, on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Catholic police officer died when a bomb exploded under his car in Omagh on Saturday.

His mother, Nuala, has urged Catholics not to be deterred from joining the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Tyrone Gaelic Athletic Association County board chairman Kieran McLaughlin, who visited the family, said the dissidents believed to be behind the killing had little support.

“Whilst politically there are a small number of people who are motivated in this way, the vast majority of people in Tyrone and across Ulster have moved on and want to share a society to ensure everyone can be part of it,” he said.

A book of condolence for the dead police officer has been opened in Omagh.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has also organised a lunch-time rally in Belfast on Wednesday to allow people to express their abhorrence at his murder.

On Monday, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Archbishop Sean Brady, said the murder was an attack on all of society.

“I call on young Catholics to actively support the PSNI and join it. We need a police force that represents all of us.

“I also appeal to the parents of children that are being recruited by these groups to get their children to resist,” he said.

“They have not lived through the dark days of the Troubles, tell them the awfulness of what we lived through.”

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, told MPs the murder of Constable Kerr would not destabilise the peace process

Mr Paterson said his murder was “revolting and cowardly”.

Mr Kerr is the second police officer to have been murdered since the Royal Ulster Constabulary became the PSNI in 2001.

He joined the police in May 2010 and had been working in the community since December.

Mr Kerr is survived by his mother, Nuala, two brothers, Cathair and Aaron and a sister, Dairine.

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