'˜A loving father, dedicated friend and selfless volunteer'

Adrian Ismay, who sustained serious leg injuries when a device exploded under his van in Belfast 11 days ago, died after he was readmitted to hospital yesterday. It is thought he had suffered a heart attack.

A post mortem examination will take place today to determine the exact cause of death. The attack on March 4 has been claimed by a dissident republican group calling itself the New IRA.

Community Rescue Service (CRS) regional commander Sean McCarry described the 52-year-old as an “invaluable” and “tireless” volunteer.

“He had two careers. One was with the Prison Service that paid him, and the other was working with ourselves, searching for missing persons and trying to save lives, and he did that tirelessly,” Mr McCarry said.

“He was one of our senior officers and a very active member – one of the most important people we have. He has been with us for a long time and he gave every hour of every day that he had to the organisation.

“An attack on Adrian was an attack on the community – it wasn’t an attack on a prison officer.”

Mr McCarry said his friend and colleague had been out on a recent missing person search and gave up many more hours during the week.

“On Monday he was helping us train our teams in Portglenone, on Tuesday he was helping us with our training again, on Wednesday night he was doing paperwork, and on Thursday he was back again doing work for the Community Rescue Service. On Friday morning, on his way to his own work, he was attacked,” he added.

Connor Duncan, another former CRS colleague of Mr Ismay’s, said: “Those responsible for the horrific attack on Adrian did not see the man beneath the uniform, they did not see the loving father, the dedicated friend or the selfless volunteer who offered his spare hours helping others in trouble.”

Ex-Royal Navy man was tireless volunteer

Adrian Ismay spent seven years with the Royal Navy (RN)before joining the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

The former RN radio operator had specialist first aid skills and was a tireless volunteer with a number of volunteer medical and rescue organisations.

As well as being a professional staff trainer, Mr Ismay was a search and rescue specialist - including fast response boat coxswain - and an associate lecturer at the Ulster University.

One of his main specialisations was teaching pre-hospital care for rural, remote and wilderness areas.

Mr Ismay was a long-serving volunteer with the Community Rescue Service who devoted the majority of his free time to training other CRS volunteers, in addition to taking part in searches.