Liam Adams (pictured) was jailed for 16 years after being convicted of rape and sexual assault against his daughter Aine Dahlstrom

The convicted paedophile brother of former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has died after a battle with cancer.

Former IRA commander Liam Adams, 63, was jailed for 16 years in 2013 after being convicted of rape and sexual assault against his daughter Aine Dahlstrom.

Ms Dahlstrom, 45, was abused from when she was just four-years-old, and waived her right to anonymity in 2009 so her father's name could be reported.

She went to police in 2007 after finding out he was working in a youth club that her children attended.

Adams was diagnosed with cancer three years into his sentence and had been receiving treatment while behind bars.

He was moved out of Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn, Northern Ireland, earlier this month to spend his final days in a hospice.

Gerry Adams visited his brother on his deathbed earlier this month.

The former president of Sinn Fein - regarded as the political wing of the IRA - revealed in 2009 that their father, Gerry Snr, had physically and sexually abused members of their family.

The Department of Justice said: 'The Northern Ireland Prison Service can confirm the death in custody of a 63-year-old prisoner from Maghaberry Prison.

'The prisoner died on Monday morning. His next of kin have been informed.

'As is standard procedure, the PSNI and Prisoner Ombudsman have been informed.'

Gerry Adams (left) visited his brother on his deathbed earlier this month. Pictured right: Aine Dahlstrom

Ronnie Armour, head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, said: 'I would like to extend my sympathy to the family of the prisoner.

'My thoughts are with them at this difficult time.'

Adams abused Ms Dalhstrom over a six-year period during the 1970s and 1980s.

Adams, a former youth worker, was convicted of 10 offences - three counts of rape, four of indecent assault and three of gross indecency.

In 2015, Adams lost an appeal at the High Court against his conviction and sentencing.

Gerry Adams gave evidence at his brother's first trial - which collapsed in April 2013 for legal reasons.

Adams, pictured outside Belfast Crown Court in April 2013

During the 2013 trial, Mr Adams told the court that in 2000, during a walk in the rain in Dundalk, his brother had admitted sexually abusing his daughter, Ms Dalhstrom.

Mr Adams made his first report to police about the allegations in 2007 shortly after his party voted to accept the PSNI, but did not tell officers about the confession until 2009, when he made a second statement.

Mr Adams was criticised for not informing police about the confession at an earlier date.

In 2015, the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman found that police were not politically motivated when they said Gerry Adams should not be prosecuted for allegedly withholding information about his paedophile brother.

The police watchdog said there was no evidence of misconduct, or that officers had been influenced by the former Sinn Fein president's status.

Ms Dahlstrom first took the matter to police in the mid-1980s. This was in the midst of the Northern Ireland Troubles and a time when many people in republican communities distrusted and refused to co-operate with the security forces.

She did not pursue the matter at that stage, claiming that detectives were more interested to hear information about her famous uncle than about the allegations she was levelling against her father.

It would be another 20 years before she went to police again, after finding out that her father was working in a west Belfast youth club that her children attended.

Adams subsequently went on the run to the Irish Republic, triggering a long extradition battle.