The death of a Belfast man whose mother was killed and secretly buried by the IRA has been described as “yet another tragic blow to the McConville family”.
Thomas ‘Tucker’ McConville died at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast on Wednesday after a short illness.
His mother Jean McConville was killed by the IRA in 1972.
A mother-of 10, her remains were recovered in Co Louth in 2003.
Mr McConville is the fourth member of his family to die in recent years.
Dr Sandra Peake, CEO of the WAVE Trauma Centre, said the death of Ms McConville impacted her son.
“While working in the garden and doing the fund-raising Marathon walks with WAVE were good times for Tucker like others in the family, what happened to his mother irreparably damaged his life,” she said.
“His brother Michael often says that when the IRA murdered their mother they may as well have murdered them too such was the devastating impact of the horror of her murder and being disappeared.
“It destroyed their childhood and has blighted the rest of their lives.”
Anne Morgan whose brother Seamus Ruddy was abducted and murdered by the INLA in France in 1985, and whose remains were recovered in 2017, described Mr McConville as “a gentle soul”.
“He always had time for everyone,” she said.
“I walked with him on the Belfast Half Marathon. He was someone who wanted to help people and lessen their load. He will be sorely missed”.
Requiem Mass for Mr McConville will take place in St John’s Parish, Falls Road, West Belfast, on Tuesday at 1pm.
