Fiancée of slain ex-dissident leader ‘turned his life around’

Former Real IRA leader Aidan O’Driscoll was laid to rest yesterday, with family and friends pledging he would not be forgotten and thanking his heartbroken fiancée for “turning his life around”.

A huge crowd gathered at Saint Oliver’s Church in Ballyvolane on Cork’s northside to bid farewell to the 37-year-old, who was shot dead in Blackpool on December 7.

Mourners recalled the native of Glenheights Park as a son, a brother, a father, a man engaged to be married to “the love of his life”, and someone who, through his playing and coaching of sport, had played a role in his local community.