Around 3,000 mourners will attend the funeral today of one of Britain’s most notorious gangsters, murdered days before appearing in a fly-on-the-wall TV documentary.

Desmond Noonan, 46, appeared on TV in the programme about the underworld where he was linked to 27 murders in Manchester.

In the film, Noonan, who had a string of convictions for serious crime, boasted to investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre about his criminal reputation.

“They reckon I am behind most of the murders in Manchester,” he said.

“I’ve got a bigger army than the police. I’ve got more guns than the police.”

But four days before the programme, MacIntyre’s Underworld, was broadcast on Five he was found stabbed to death outside a house in Chorlton, south Manchester.

Greater Manchester Police tried but failed to get a court order banning the broadcast.

Noonan’s coffin will be carried in a horse and carriage cortege from St Aidan’s Church in Wythenshawe, Manchester for internment at the city’s Southern Cemetery.

Police say they estimate around 3,000 mourners will attend the funeral.

Derek McDuffus, 41, originally from the south Manchester area, has been charged with Noonan’s murder.

Shajahan Cooke, 39, from Chorlton, has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Fri 22 Apr 2005
By Pat Hurst, PA
The Scotsman
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4437464