The family of murdered prison officer David Black denounced his killers as cowards at his funeral.

The victim, 52, was shot dead by suspected dissident republicans on a motorway as he drove to work at Maghaberry prison, Co Antrim, last Thursday.

Mr Black, who had more than 30 years' service, was the first prison officer to die at the hands of paramilitaries since 1993.

His daughter Kyra, 17, paid tribute to her "special hero" but the married father-of-two's family said they hoped the perpetrators would "get what they deserve".

The head of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr Roy Patton, vowed the efforts of the gunmen to drag Northern Ireland backwards would not work.

Prison officers carried the coffin to Molesworth Presbyterian Church in Mid Ulster in military fashion behind a Scottish bagpiper who played a lament.

Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson, Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Matt Baggott and justice ministers from north and south of the border attended the funeral in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, yesterday.

Mr Black's cousin, Jim Slaine, told mourners: "The people who did this are cowards to the extreme.They've probably never done a decent day's living, unlike the man they killed."

He added: "We all hope the perpetrators get what they deserve in life but we all know they will have to live with what they have done and they will meet their maker."

Gunmen travelling in a stolen car fired on the victim's Audi car near a junction leading to Porta-down, Co Armagh, causing his car to leave the road.

Inside the church, Mr Black's daughter had a special message: "The one thing I want you to know, I am so proud of you, you are forever my special hero."

Dr Patton said: "We are together in this, united as churches, politicians, civic society, ordinary men and women who feel for you in your unspeakable loss, and who are outraged by this evil deed.

"This attack on a prison officer was an attack on this whole community."

Meanwhile, several hundred people staged a vigil organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions outside Belfast City Hall in protest at the killing.