Tragic biker Judith McMullan had longed for Harley Davidson says friend as he dubs her 'not your average girl'

​Tributes have continued to mount to the 35-year-old since a collision with a car claimed her life in Markethill, Co Armagh at about 7.45pm on Monday. The cause is unknown.

More details about the late 35-year-old Miss McMullan have emerged as the family prepares to bury her tomorrow.

Keith Murdoch, a friend, told the News Letter: “A more genuine family you couldn't meet.”

The McMullan family owns a large cattle herd Mr Murdoch said, and he knows them “very, very well” on account of cutting their silage for years.

Miss McMullan had been riding a Harley Davidson when it collided with a black Seat Leon car. Mr Murdoch said whilst it's unusual to find a woman riding a Harley Davidson, “this was not your ordinary average girl”.

Judith herself was “very competent, forthright, and professional,” and often jetted around the world for work: “She was gorgeous, and her personality was so bubbly.”

Mr Murdoch added: “She only got the motorbike on Saturday. “The reason she was on the bike was she was taking it from her own house in Markethill to her father and mother's house for safe-keeping, because she was due to go to – I think – Los Angeles yesterday morning [Tuesday] and was to go to Chicago next.

“Apparently she had a yearning for one for many years.”

Mr Murdoch said Judith’s father “Sammy is the same age as myself, 66” and added: “I've watched the children grow up.

“They are very hard-working people, very religious people, God-fearing people, and they keep themselves to themselves but are very active in the Free Presbyterian Church and very active in the local Orange lodge.”

Mr Murdoch, who is district secretary and a past master of Loughbrickland District LOL 10 and is in Royal Black Preceptory No 6 in Banbridge where he is worshipful district master, said that Judith had been due to sing at a celebration next month marking the 200th anniversary of two local Orange lodges.

Members of Drumderg Loyalists Flute Band, based in Keady, several miles to the south-west of Markethill, added their condolences too, saying: “Several of the McMullan family were dedicated members of Drumderg band and today we share their grief following the sudden loss of their much-loved family member.”

“She milked the cows, had a very high-powered job, did lots of walking, did bits of charity work too.”

The tragedy has particular resonance for Mr Murdoch because he lost son-in-law Graham Kilpatrick in an accident involving a Bobcat farm vehicle just one mile from the crash scene in 2012.

“He was married to our daughter and they’d just had a baby 17 days before that,” he said. “He was 32, and this wee girl is 35. It just brought it all back.”

Drumderg Loyalists Flute Band said in its statement: “Our deepest and heartfelt sympathies and condolences are with the McMullan family in Markethill at the untimely passing of Judith.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the extended family, friends and those involved in this awful tragedy.

"God bless. Matthew 5:4 (KJV) – ‘Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted’.”

Judith’s sister Faith is governor and head of modern foreign languages at Markethill High School, and other sister Kirsten is head of English.

A statement from the school said “we trust and pray that the steadfast faith of Judith's family and friends will comfort them in the days, weeks and months ahead”.

A funeral notice states that the family home at 23 Lurgana Road, Whitecross, BT60 2JW, will be open to family, friends, and neighbours until Friday morning at 11am.

That day there will be a service in the home, arriving at Mullaghglass Free Presbyterian Church for a service at 2pm, with a private family burial afterwards at Kingsmill Presbyterian Churchyard.

The notice describes her as “dearly loved daughter of Samuel and Roberta, dear sister of Faith (Fabricio), Linzi (Simon), Kirsten and Robert (Louise), devoted auntie to Naomi, Jemimah, Ethan, Samara, Isaac and Sienna, also a much-loved grand-daughter”.

By grim chance, another fatal rural road crash had occurred just one hour before Judith’s, killing two teenagers who were on their way to a school formal just to the south-east of the Monaghan-Fermanagh border.

The funeral for the victims Kiea McCann, 17, and Dalava Mohammed, 16, are taking place in Clones and Dublin respectively on Thursday afternoon.