By Ciaran O’Neill
coneill@derrynews.net

THE mother of the Derry man murdered on the outskirts of the city last week has spoken of her family’s heartbreak.
Kieran Doherty was found shot dead in a field at the Braehead Road, off the old Letterkenny Road, on Tuesday night.
The 31 year-old’s body was discovered with his hands bound in a field close to the rear entrance of Termonbacca Retreat Centre.
The Real IRA last week admitted responsibility for the murder, claiming that Mr Doherty had been a senior member of the organization who had become ‘involved with a criminal organization with links to the drugs trade’.
However, in an exclusive interview with today’s Derry News, Mr Doherty’s family reject claims that he had been involved with drug-related criminal activity or that he was an informer.
They also question what link MI5 officers had with the former republican prisoner’s death.
Following his death, it has emerged that Mr Doherty, who had a two year-old daughter and was due to get married in June, approached local media on several occasions last year claiming that MI5 agents had tried to recruit him as an informer.
Mr Doherty’s mother, Christine, who described her son’s killers as ‘scum’, said they wanted questions answered.
“What had MI5 to do with my son’s death?” she said.
“They tortured Kieran for six months and followed him around 24/7. So where were they the night he was murdered?”
Mr Doherty will be buried this morning following a service at the Long Tower church.