Three men found not guilty of murdering journalist Lyra McKee

Three men have been found not guilty of murdering journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland.

The 29-year-old was shot in the head when a masked gunman fired towards police during a riot in Derry/Londonderry in April 2019.

Judge Mrs Justice Smyth delivered her judgment in the long-running non-jury trial at Belfast Crown Court.

Prosecutors said Paul McIntyre, 58, Peter Cavanagh, 38, and Jordan Devine, 25, all from Derry/Londonderry, assisted and/or encouraged the gunman.

They had denied the charges.

The defence criticised the standard of evidence in the case, saying it was almost entirely circumstantial.

The self-styled New IRA admitted responsibility a few days after the murder, and said she was "tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces".

Several petrol bombs had been directed at police and a car was set on fire during chaotic scenes which culminated in four shots being fired towards officers. One of the shots hit Ms McKee.

Police later recovered the handgun that killed Ms McKee and believe it was also used in prior attacks.

As a rising star in journalism, Ms McKee extensively covered the Northern Irish conflict and its legacy, and was named Sky News young journalist of the year in 2006.

Speaking outside the court, Ms McKee's family said she deserves "justice".

Her sister, Nichola Corner, said: "I'll tell you what will not happen, that we will not go down with this. This is not over. Lyra said, 'If you're going to go down, go down fighting'.

"And I can tell you right now that every one of my family will, because we do this for Lyra."

Originally from Belfast, Ms McKee had only recently moved to Derry/Londonderry before she was killed, to live with her partner Sara Canning.

She had tweeted about the "absolute madness" in the city in the hours before she was shot dead.

A television crew had been filming in the area with the republican organisation Saoradh for a documentary for MTV.

After filming around several locations in the morning, they left before the shooting happened.

During the trial, the court was shown unedited footage from the documentary filmed in the Creggan estate on the day of Ms McKee's murder.

The murder sparked an outpouring of condemnation and grief which quickly spread beyond Northern Ireland and went around the world.

Former Irish president Michael D Higgins, then prime minister Theresa May, and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were among the mourners who attended her funeral.

(c) Sky News 2026: Three men found not guilty of murdering journalist Lyra McKee