THE Roman Catholic parish priest of Wisbech killed when his car collided with a tractor on the M9 motorway near Waterford in Kilkenny, Ireland, will be buried tomorrow.

Father Eddie Murphy, 59, had been parish priest at Our Lady and St Charles Catholic Church, Queen’s Road, Wisbech, for just 10 months.

He had been in Ireland to visit his aged mother and family and to attend a meeting in Dublin of Rosminian priests.

His funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Rosminian Retreat House, Glencomeragh, tomorrow and he will be buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

Isabella Alecock, chairman of the Wisbech church parish council, said parishioners were in a state of shock and disbelief. They plan to hold a memorial service for Fr Murphy: in the meantime a delegation including the parish secretary Veronica Marsden is flying to Ireland to attend the funeral.

Fr Murphy was born in Paddington of Irish parents and joined the Rosminians as a young man but it was only about 10 years ago that he set his sights on becoming a priest.

Wisbech was his second appointment as pastor following a short period at Neath in South Wales.

The church in Wisbech has been inundated with expressions of sympathy from the other churches in the town and further afield.

Canon Matthew Bradbury, Anglican rural dean, wrote that “Father Eddie impressed me as a gentle and loving shepherd who knew his people and offered teaching and sacrament in a way which embraced everyone”.

Parishioners will gather for prayer in the church at the time of the funeral. Sunday services were led by the Rev Michael Jordan who said “the parish is in mourning for Father Murphy who had done a great deal of work in regards of the community.”