Husband and wife who died 45 years apart buried together in Belfast

A priest has spoken about God's "perfect timing" after he officiated at the west Belfast funeral of a husband and wife who died on the same day 45 years apart.

Joseph Murphy, who was buried with his wife Mary on Thursday, was one of the 11 victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre which happened during the introduction of internment without trial in August 1971.

Ten people, including Mr Murphy, a priest who had gone to the aid of one of victims and a 50-year-old mother of eight children were shot dead by British soldiers in west Belfast. Inquests have yet to be concluded into the killings.

An eleventh victim, who does not come under the terms of the inquest, Paddy McCarthy, died from a heart attack after a soldier allegedly put an empty gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger.

It is believed that most if not all of the killings were carried out by members of the British Parachute Regiment. The incident took place months before the same regiment was involved in the Bloody Sunday killings, which resulted in the deaths of 14 innocent civilians.

Last October, as part of the Ballymurphy inquests, the coroner ordered that Mr Murphy’s body be exhumed so that an investigation could be carried out into his family’s belief that he was shot on two occasions by the British army.

In hospital before his death, Mr Murphy told his family he was first shot in the upper thigh on the streets of Ballymurphy, but soldiers then brought him into the nearby Henry Taggart barracks and shot him again through his open wound.

A suspected bullet fragment was found among his remains after his exhumation and this will be a factor in the inquests into his killing.

With other members of the Ballymurphy families, his widow Mary campaigned for decades to establish the truth behind the killings. It had been her hope that a second funeral Mass could be heard for her husband before he was re-interred.

However, Mrs Murphy died from cancer on August 22nd, the same date that Mr Murphy died from his injuries in 1971.

“Little did she think that he would be buried 45 years to the day when he was first buried,” said officiating priest Fr Darach Mac Giolla Catháin.

“More than that, that she would have the grace when she died that they would be side by side in the church and be laid to rest together,” he added. “God’s timing really is perfect.”