Ronan Kerr murder: newspaper editorials' reaction

Editorials in Monday's newspapers have reacted to the death of PSNI Constable Ronan Kerr, 25, who was killed when a booby-trap bomb exploded under his car in Omagh.

The Irish News

People everywhere will be disgusted, shocked and depressed by the pointless death of a young man serving the community. There will also be a deep sense of sympathy for his mother, still grieving for the loss of her husband, and for his brother and sister and wider family circle. They will need every support in the days and weeks ahead.

For those who believe the bombers are justified, they should look at this family and at the heartache they have caused.

They should also think about the sort of people who can plant a bomb in Omagh, of all places. It is unspeakable.

What needs to happen now is that anyone who has information about the bombers of those who came up with this wicked plan, must now search their consciences and do what is right.

Ronan Kerr's killers can only be caught if people come forward to the police.

Belfast Telegraph

Today in our land a small collection of people will be congratulating themselves, getting pats on the back, smirking that their demented "cause" is back at the top of the news agendas. Ancient half-truths and myths will be voiced as justification for barbarous actions. They will be happy.

That they live among us will make all right-thinking men and women sick to the pit of their stomachs.

At just 25, Ronan Kerr was the victim of the enemy within. As a Catholic, he had committed the "treachery" of serving with an "occupying force".

The truth of course is that Constable Kerr had shown a bravery, selflessness and optimism for the future that the weasel half-wits who took his life will never understand until the end of their twisted days.

Belfast News Letter

First and foremost, our thoughts must be with a young man who was murdered because he wanted a better society.

We should also think about his family and friends and the officers who served alongside him. We ask the ordinary men and women of the police service to do an extraordinary job.

The officers who serve and protect us all are the bulwark of society and stand between us and evil people.

Daily Mirror

The death of Ronan Kerr on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Omagh was a brutal and senseless act.

The murder of the young policeman outside his home stunned Northern Ireland. And it united Northern Ireland in revulsion.

Ronan's life was taken from him by people who don't want us to have a shared future. They won't win and the truth is they have been roundly rejected.

Irish Independent

Constable Ronan Kerr lives all his short life in a time of turbulence but also a time of optimism. His cruel and cowardly murder shows that the turbulence has not yet ended, and it has weakened the tender plant of optimism which in recent years has grown in Northern Ireland.

At the age of 25, he himself exemplified some of the roots of that optimism.

The long, weary negotiations to being peace to the North scored one of their greatest successes with the creation of a non-sectarian police force, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Like thousands of other Catholics, Ronan Kerr joined the force. His ambition was to serve all the community, to enable Catholics and Protestants to live together in peace.

The Sun

We do not want to go back to the dark days of fear and terror. The tiny minority who bring death and despair will be defeated.

That will only happen if both communities, Protestant and Catholic, unite in their rejection of the men of violence.