Mystery still surrounds the death of a Derry republican whose body was found washed up on the shores of Lough Neagh earlier this month.
There was speculation that Gerard 'Shorty' Hamspon (53), a former Provisional IRA prisoner who had links with republican dissidents, committed suicide. However, Hampson's friends suspect he might have been murdered.
He was last seen alive at the end of November when two friends dropped him off at Castledawson roundabout in Co Derry. He was planning to catch a bus to Dungiven to have a pint there but it is unknown whether he arrived.
Hampson was wanted by police for questioning about the abduction of a man and woman in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, and the shooting of a man in Derry in the same incident.
The brother-in-law of the North's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, is already facing charges in relation to the incident. Marvin Canning (45) faces seven charges arising out of the abduction of Brendan Cranston and Linda Doherty from their Mullingar home.
The couple were tied up, hooded and driven 140 miles to Derry where Cranston was shot in the ankle. Canning is denying the charges. Gerard Hampson had been questioned by police and released but detectives wanted to interview him again at the time of his disappearance.
Although police were apparently looking for him, just before he disappeared Hampson attended a republican dissident commemoration in Derry for IRA member Patsy Duffy who was shot dead by the British Army 30 years ago.
He also occasionally attended 32 County Sovereignty Movement meetings. His naked body was found three weeks ago by a man walking his dog on a lonely stretch of the lough shoreline near Toomebridge, Co Derry.
Hampson's marriage had recently ended and he was recovering from heart surgery. However, friends don't believe he committed suicide by drowning. "Shorty was terrified of the water and, if he was going to drown himself in the middle of winter, wouldn't he enter the water clothed, rather than naked?" one said.
"There's a lot that doesn't feel right about all this. We've spoken to the man who found the body and he said there wasn't a mark on it. That doesn't make sense if the body was in the lough six weeks. After that time, large chunks of him would have been eaten by pikes and eels." The coroner's service has said the cause of death was "undetermined" after a post mortem.
Hamspon's friends are critical of the police investigation into his disappearance and possible murder, describing it as "wholly inadequate". A police spokeswoman said detectives were not treating Hamspon's death as suspicious "at this moment".
Around 1,000 people attended his funeral. A tricolour covered the coffin and the cortege was accompanied by a 32 County Sovereignty Movement colour party. It was not the first tragedy to hit the family. During the Troubles, Hampson's mother was killed in a road accident while visiting him in Long Kesh.
