Mourners warned against revenge

AS the coffin of Gerard “Topper” Staunton slowly slid into the hearse, the family of the murdered Cork man finally let down their guard.

For the previous half an hour his father James and mother Noreen had kept a dignified vigil under the prying eye of a church full of mourners.

Mr Staunton’s four brothers and two sisters had stayed silent as the parish priest, Fr Pat Fogarty, reminded them of the “sudden, tragic, unexpected and brutal” murder of the 42-year-old.