A day before the funeral last Monday, a judge granted Anderson a two-hour compassionate temporary release (CTR) from Maghaberry Prison to attend.
It came after the application was originally denied by prison officials.
His brother Sean had also applied for compassionate leave from a different prison, Magilligan, but the decision to deny that application was upheld by the judge.
The funeral service took place at St Mary’s Church in the Creggan area of Derry last Monday morning.
Anderson was not given permission to attend cremation in Letterkenny, County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland that afternoon.
At some stage on Monday morning, he absconded from his court-approved civilian chaperone.
Court documents show that the chaperone appointed by the court to accompany Anderson during his father’s funeral is a relative of the prisoner.
He is identified in court documents as an uncle; there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part.
Francesca questioned the decision to appoint an uncle as the chaperone, while accepting there was no suggestion of wrongdoing by him.
“I don’t consider a family member going to a family funeral neutral,” she said.
“At the very least there’s the background of it’s a big crowd. If you know people in the crowd you’re more likely to be distracted, people stopping to talk to you, so I don’t understand how they can be expected to be.
“I just feel it’s an unfair burden, even on someone whenever they are family and they’re in a family situation like that, to be expected to be fully present at every given moment and ensuring that the prisoner is beside them.
“I find that would be very difficult.”
Policing and justice expert Danny Shaw described it as a “very unusual situation”.
“I can’t remember, certainly in the UK, ever there being a situation like that where someone’s been allowed out for a funeral without a prison officer or police officer in close attendance,” he said.
