MORE THAN 2,000 people turned out in the Shankill in loyalist Belfast yesterday afternoon to show their support for the family of Bobby Moffett, who was murdered by suspected Ulster Volunteer Force members last Friday week.
There were text messages circulating in the area warning people to stay away from the funeral but this and other forms of intimidation were largely ignored.
Among those who attended the funeral were DUP Minister Nelson McCausland and DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds, who hoped the strong local reaction to the killing would mark a positive “watershed” in the history of the Shankill. PSNI Det Chief Insp John McVea told reporters that police believed UVF members he was in dispute with lured Mr Moffett to his death. “From our knowledge of those individuals, from information we have received and from our intelligence picture, it is the police view that this murder was carried out by individuals linked to the UVF. It was a public execution linked to the Shankill UVF,” he said. Police were also trying to establish if the killing was sanctioned at leadership level.
Mr Moffett’s funeral procession left his mother’s home in the central Shankill area at lunchtime yesterday, where the chief mourners were his mother, children, sisters and brothers. A religious service was held inside the house while a large crowd gathered outside.
The hearse, which carried floral tributes stating “Son”, “Daddy” and “Brother”, made its way out of the square onto Crimea Street where a large crowd three and four deep gathered along both pavements. It then turned onto the Shankill Road where a large crowd also formed. Most local businesses closed for the funeral, although one well-known bar associated with the UVF noticeably remained open as the cortege passed by. The pall-bearers stopped briefly on the Shankill where two masked gunmen shot dead Mr Moffett last week.
Mr Dodds said the big turnout demonstrated that the people on the Shankill want the “paramilitaries to get off their backs and let them get on with their lives”.
“I think the large dignified turnout at this funeral today and the manner in which it has been conducted and carried out, sends a very powerful message right across, not only the Shankill but Belfast and Northern Ireland that people have had enough of violence, intimidation and threats,” he added.
