Mother of punishment attack victim is buried 

A MOTHER who "died of a broken heart' after her son was murdered by the IRA in a botched
punishment attack was due to be laid to rest today. 

Maureen Kearney, whose son Andrew bled to death after being shot by masked raiders in his north Belfast flat, died in hospital on Sunday following her tireless fight for justice. 

Her sister, Faye McAllister, said: "She fought a hard campaign to bring those to justice who
murdered Andrew. But in the end she just died of a broken heart. We are all  devastated.'

Mrs Kearney (65) from Juniper Court in Twinbrook, became an outspoken critic of the IRA 
following her 33-year- old son's death in July last year, despite being born into a fervently 
republican family. 

Her father was an IRA man while her brother was one of the first republicans to be interned
in 1971, and she was also the cousin of Bobby Sands, who died in the Maze prison in 1981
after going on hunger strike. 

Mrs Kearney believed that while the IRA used to be a collection of idealists trying to protect
Catholic communities, today's breed were "mere thugs who terrorise their own community
in pursuit of money and power". 

On the first anniversary of Andrew's murder she said: "It just feels like I am slowly dying. I feel
very, very angry. The people who did this are known to the police, ourselves, everybody. They've been interrogated but said nothing.'Renouncing the violence in Northern Ireland and pressing for the province's political leaders to renew their efforts to reach an inclusive settlement, Mrs Kearney added: "I don't want anybody else to get their son back home in a wooden box.'Mourners were due gather with her husband Tommy, two sons and three daughters before the funeral service at St Luke's Church at 1pm. 

Mrs Kearney was expected to be buried at Our Lady's Cemetery in Hannahstown, Belfast.