Funeral takes place of former Deputy Chief Constable

Mr Rodgers was 89.

Mr Rodgers was a member of the force for 40 years.

He joined after his family moved to Londonderry from their home near Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

He had planned to become a clerk in one of the city’s shirt factories but joined the police in 1942.

His first station was Warrenpoint, Co Down, when the port was crowded with American soldiers.

He went on to serve in Belfast, Newtownards, Clogher in Co Tyrone, Derrylin and Lisnaskea in Co Fermanagh, Omagh, and then Lurgan and Portadown during some of the worst IRA and loyalist paramilitary violence in an area which became known as the murder triangle of mid-Ulster.

The Kingsmills massacre in January 1975 and the Miami Showband atrocity that summer were among some of the major incidents he investigated.

Mr Rodgers retired in 1982.

His wife, Eileen, died in 1995 and he is survived by sons Henry and Michael and seven grandchildren.

His funeral took place at Bushmills Presbyterian Church.