THE country's latest gangland shooting victim will be buried today in a gold-plated coffin.

There was a large garda presence last night at the removal of 'Fat' Andy Connors (45) at the parish church in Saggart, west Dublin.

The remains of the well-known burglary gang boss were brought from his home in nearby Blessington Road to the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the ceremony which began shortly after 7pm.

Connors' body was brought to the church by his family in a gold-plated coffin worth €28,000, which was imported from England.

Photographs of Connors were held by some mourners in the procession to the church.

His funeral mass will take place at the Saggart church at noon today and his body will then be brought to St Michael's Cemetery in Gorey, Co Wexford, where he will be buried this evening.

Earlier this week, the family of Connors told the Herald that that they do not want any revenge for his savage slaying.

A niece of 'Fat' Andy said: "We do not want any revenge for what happened - none of our family wants revenge.

"Andy has six brothers and none of them wants anything only peace now. The family will not be avenging Andy's death.

"The family is in a lot of fear now."

fearful

It is understood that funeral arrangements for 'Fat' Andy were delayed until yesterday evening because his family were fearful that gangsters would target them. A large number of the burglary gang boss's relations travelled to England following the murder.

His niece, who asked not to be named, said that she had been authorised to contact the Herald by her family after death threats had been made to other members of the Connors family in the Tallaght area over the past week. She said that the threats happened in phone calls and have not been reported to gardai because "the family will not talk to gardai".

"We don't want to co-operate with gardai, we just want to live in peace. Family members have got calls threatening them to leave their homes," the woman said.

Gardai are exploring a number of theories in relation to the gun murder of the father-of-six who was shot dead in front of some of his children last week.

Officers are probing whether he was killed by the INLA after he refused to pay up to their extortion demands and are also investigating a dispute he was involved in with a high-profile south Dublin businessman.

Connors was a senior figure in a burglary gang that robbed from homes across the country.