Ireland

Gerry Adams attends brother's funeral in Donegal

Liam Adams was a convicted paedophile who spent six years in Maghaberry Prison

Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams at the funeral of his younger brother Liam in letterkenny. Photograph: North West Newspix

Fri Mar 1 2019 - 16:37

Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was among the mourners as his brother Liam was buried in Letterkenny, Co Donegal on Friday afternoon.

Liam Adams (63) was a convicted paedophile who spent six years in Maghaberry Prison and died at a hospice in Belfast on Monday last.

A small congregation attended St Eunan’s Cathedral in Letterkenny for the funeral mass.

Liam Adams was buried at Conwal Graveyard on the outskirts of the town.

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The deceased man’s remains had been waked at his partner’s home in the Mountaintop area of Letterkenny since Wednesday.

The funeral cortege was led by a silver Belfast taxi as it made its way on the two-mile journey to his final resting place after his funeral mass.

Gerry Adams did not carry his brother’s coffin but it was instead carried by a number of people including three women.

Liam Adams was jailed in 2013 for 16 years after being found guilty of raping and abusing his daughter Aine Dahlstrom.

A former youth worker and also a former IRA member, Liam Adams was convicted of 10 offences — three counts of rape, four of indecent assault and three of gross indecency. In 2015, he lost an appeal at the High Court against his conviction and sentencing.

The offences occurred between 1977 and 1983, when Liam Adams was aged between 22 and 26.

Gerry Adams gave evidence at his brother’s first trial, which collapsed in April 2013 for legal reasons.

During the 2013 trial, Gerry Adams told the court that in 2000, during a walk in the rain in Dundalk, his brother had admitted sexually abusing his own daughter.

Gerry Adams made his first report to police about the allegations in 2007 shortly after his party voted to accept the PSNI, but did not tell officers about the confession until 2009, when he made a second statement.

In 2015, the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman found that police were not politically motivated when they said Gerry Adams should not be prosecuted for allegedly withholding information about his paedophile brother.

The police watchdog said there was no evidence of misconduct, or that officers had been influenced by the former Sinn Féin president’s status.

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