Tributes have been paid to the first serving Northern Irish prison officer to die from Covid-19.
The Director General of the Prison Service has led tributes to the officer from Maghaberry Prison, saying that he had cared deeply about the service and had worked tirelessly over the years to make it better and safer.
Writing to Prison staff this morning, Ronnie Armour said: “It was with a deep sense of sadness that I learned last night of the passing of one of our colleagues, after a short battle with Covid-19. He cared deeply about the Service and he worked tirelessly over the years to make things better and safer.
“On behalf of the Service I want to express our heartfelt sympathies to his family circle and to those colleagues who worked alongside him. Our Service is the poorer for his passing and the circumstances of his death make our loss all the more painful. He will be long remembered.”
It comes as there were nine further Covid-19 deaths reported yesterday, bringing the death toll in Northern Ireland from the virus to 2,278, according to the Department of Health.
There were also over 1,900 new cases of the virus reported.
