Trial collapses as jury rejects claims trio helped gunman who killed journalist during 2019 Derry riot
Three men have been acquitted of murdering journalist Lyra McKee, more than seven years after she was shot dead during rioting in Derry/Londonderry.
Ms McKee, 29, died after being struck in the head as a masked gunman opened fire in the direction of police officers amid disorder in the Creggan area of the city in April 2019. She was not the target of the attack but was standing nearby when the shot was fired.
Paul McIntyre, Peter Cavanagh and Jordan Devine, all from Derry/Londonderry, stood trial accused of assisting and/or encouraging the gunman responsible for her death. All three had denied the charges, and a jury has now found them not guilty.
The gunman himself has never been identified or brought before the courts. Responsibility for the shooting was claimed within days by the paramilitary group calling itself the New IRA, which said, as reported by Sky News, that Ms McKee had been “tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces.”
According to Sky News, detectives investigating the murder later recovered the handgun used to kill Ms McKee and believe the same weapon had featured in earlier attacks, though this evidence did not lead to a conviction over her death.
Ms McKee’s murder drew widespread condemnation and cast a spotlight on the fragility of peace in Northern Ireland more than two decades after the Good Friday Agreement. She was widely regarded as one of the most promising journalists of her generation, having built a body of work examining the Troubles and their continuing impact on the region. Her talent had been recognised early: Sky News reports that she was named its young journalist of the year in 2006.
With the trial now concluded and all three defendants cleared, no one has been convicted in connection with Ms McKee’s death.
