Three Men Found Not Guilty of Lyra McKee Murder
Three men accused of murdering journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland have been found not guilty, ending one of the most closely watched prosecutions connected to her 2019 killing.
Paul McIntyre, Peter Cavanagh and Jordan Devine had denied murdering McKee, who was shot while standing near police vehicles during disturbances in the Creggan area of Derry on 18 April 2019.
McKee, 29, was an author and journalist from Belfast. The New IRA, a dissident republican paramilitary group, later claimed responsibility for the shooting.
What the Court Decided
The verdicts were delivered at Belfast Crown Court by Mrs Justice Smyth after a long-running non-jury trial.
The prosecution case was not that McIntyre, Cavanagh or Devine fired the fatal shot. The case was that they accompanied, encouraged or assisted the gunman as part of a joint enterprise.
An earlier Judicial Communications Office summary said the three men were accused of intentionally encouraging or assisting the gunman, rather than being alleged to have fired the weapon themselves.
That distinction is the core of the verdict. The trial was not about whether McKee was murdered. It was about whether prosecutors could prove these three defendants were criminally responsible for helping the shooter.
The defence argued that the case relied heavily on speculation and circumstantial evidence. The not guilty verdicts mean the court was not satisfied to the criminal standard.
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Why the Joint-Enterprise Case Was Difficult
Official court material showed the prosecution relied on footage, identification evidence and alleged conduct around the firing point.
In the detailed court ruling on the earlier no-case application, the judge recorded that the prosecution alleged McIntyre, Cavanagh and Devine were masked individuals who accompanied the gunman toward the corner from where shots were fired.
The same court ruling said prosecutors also alleged McIntyre and Devine assisted by picking up bullets that misfired and fell to the ground.
But joint-enterprise murder requires more than presence near a gunman. Prosecutors had to prove the defendants intentionally encouraged or assisted the deliberate infliction of serious injury or death.
That is a high evidential bar, especially when the alleged shooter has not been convicted in the same case and the central evidence involves footage, identification analysis and inference.
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No One Has Been Convicted of Pulling the Trigger
The verdict leaves the central accountability problem unresolved. McKee was killed in public, during disorder witnessed by many people, yet no one has been convicted of firing the fatal shot.
The New IRA said after the killing that its members had been aiming at police. That claim never changed the legal reality of the case: McKee was an unarmed journalist observing events when she was struck.
Her death became a defining moment in Northern Ireland because it exposed the continuing danger posed by dissident republican violence long after the Good Friday Agreement.
It also became a press-freedom case. McKee was killed while watching and documenting a public disturbance, and her death drew condemnation from journalists, politicians and rights groups far beyond Northern Ireland.
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What Happens Next
The verdict does not close the wider search for accountability. It clears the three defendants of murder, but it does not identify or convict the person who fired the gun.
The next question is whether prosecutors, police or public authorities will say if any further investigative route remains open.
For McKee’s family, the verdict is another painful point in a case that has already lasted more than seven years. For Northern Ireland’s justice system, it underlines how difficult it can be to turn public disorder footage, alleged association and circumstantial evidence into a murder conviction.
The legal outcome is now clear. The unresolved issue is sharper: Lyra McKee was killed in front of a crowd, but the person who fired the shot has still not been brought before the court for her murder.
TL;DR
- Paul McIntyre, Peter Cavanagh and Jordan Devine were found not guilty of murdering Lyra McKee.
- McKee was shot dead during disturbances in Derry’s Creggan area in April 2019.
- Prosecutors did not allege the three men fired the fatal shot.
- The case depended on whether they encouraged or assisted the gunman on a joint-enterprise basis.
- The verdict leaves no conviction for the person who pulled the trigger.
Sources
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World News Correspondent
Rachel Hayes reports on international affairs, geopolitics, and breaking world news. Based in London, she covers stories shaping the UK and global political landscape.
