Three men on trial for murder of LGBTQ+ journalist Lyra McKee
Lyra McKee. (PH)
Three men have gone on trial in Northern Ireland, charged with the murder of queer journalist Lyra McKee.
McKee, 29, had been covering a night of violent unrest in Creggan, Derry, on 18 April 2019 when she was struck by a bullet reportedly aimed at the police.
The trial of Peter Cavanagh, 35, of Mary Street, Derry, 23-year-old Jordan Devine, of Bishop Street, and Paul McIntyre, 56, of Kells Walk, began on Thursday (30 May), the BBC reported. The men also face a number of other charges, including possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent, as well as possession and throwing of a petrol bomb.
McIntyre is additionally charged with membership of a proscribed organisation.
Republican paramilitary group The New IRA has admitted responsibility for the journalist’s death.
Belfast Crown Court that four gunshots fired by a masked man, were the “culmination of orchestrated disorder”, on the night of McKee’s death.
Seven other men from Derry are facing trial on a number of charges relating to the same night, including rioting and throwing a petrol bomb.
On what would have been McKee’s 30th birthday, in 2020, her partner nurse Sara Canning paid a moving tribute, imagining a future in which the journalist’s book, The Lost Boys – about four youngsters who went missing in Belfast during The Troubles – had been published.
“In another life, Lyra and I have not long returned from our trek to Everest base camp and we’re getting geared up for her 30th birthday,” Canning wrote on Twitter/X. “In that life, The Lost Boys is finished, we’re engaged and happy.
“Occasionally, it’s nice to believe in parallel universes.”
The trial continues.
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