PSNI investigating if ‘offences’ committed at funeral of PUP man Ken Wilkinson

Mr Wilkinson, who was in his early 70s and had been diagnosed with terminal interstital lung disease, died on March 11.

His funeral took place yesterday in Antrim before moving to Roselawn cemetery.

A loyalist source told the News Letter: “Ken got a good send off and it was great to see.”

Chief Inspector Pete Duncan said: “Police officers were in attendance at a funeral in Antrim on Monday 15th March and at a subsequent service at Roselawn cemetery.

“We will review all evidence gathered to identify any offences or breaches of the Health Protection Regulations.”

In a death notice Mr Wilkinson is described as the ‘beloved husband of Eileen and the much-loved father of Billy, Rosemary, Ryan, Steven, Ricky and Lisa’.

Prior to his death Mr Wilkinson had claimed that paramilitaries were not welcome at his funeral.

“There will be no paramilitary trappings at my funeral, I don’t want anything like that. I am all about class issues and that is what is important to me,” he then said.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A message from our editor: Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.