Sons pay tribute as thousands congregate in Lurgan to mourn murdered solicitor

The murder of Ms Rosemary Nelson was an attack on a woman, a family and a community. In Lurgan yesterday her family and her community turned out in great strength to make a clear statement that they would not be subdued.

No church could have contained the numbers who turned out to mourn the Lurgan solicitor. Hundreds gathered at her home at Ashford Grange in the town to follow the funeral cortege to St Peter's Church.

As the hearse slowly made its way along the Shore Road, past the nationalist Kilwilkee estate, on to Lake Street and North Street the hundreds who lined the roads quietly joined the cortege, swelling the funeral crowd to thousands.

The officiating priest, Father Kieran McPartlan, asked how anyone could take the life of a woman who had done so much for her family and her community.

He added: "Today our hearts are broken, our spirits are crushed with the suddenness of it all."

Yet despite the outpouring of grief there was also a palpable sense of a people stating that such acts of violence would not cow them.

Mr Paul Nelson and his three children, Gavin, Christopher and Sarah, led the mourners on the mile-long route to the church. They appeared dignified and calm.

Tributes were paid to Ms Nelson's record as a human rights lawyer, but the children wanted to remember her particularly as a mother and friend. At the end of the service Gavin and Christopher went to the altar to pay their personal tribute.

Her family knew she was "a brilliant solicitor", said Gavin. "We, her family, knew her as the best wife, daughter and parent you could ever wish for. We all come here today to celebrate the life of a wonderful person we all know we were very lucky to have known and loved," he added.

Christopher said: "We who have known her more than anyone will understand she is now with God in Heaven. She always cared for us, that is the way we remember her."

They spoke well, their voices strong. But such composure could only last so long. As the funeral limousine made its way to Roselawn cemetery Gavin, Christopher and Sarah huddled in the back with their father.

The huge attendance and the nature of the moving funeral ceremony will have provided some comfort for the Nelson family. But it was apparent after the Mass that notwithstanding all the community support this is a burden they must chiefly shoulder themselves.