Three men acquitted in killing of journalist Lyra McKee

A Belfast judge cleared three men of murder in Lyra McKee’s killing, ending a nonjury trial that had kept one of Northern Ireland’s most closely watched cases in court. Justice Patricia Smyth delivered the not-guilty verdicts on July 3 at Belfast Crown Court, where prosecutors had alleged the men assisted or encouraged the gunman.

The defendants were identified as Paul McIntyre, 58, Peter Cavanagh, 38, and Jordan Gareth Devine, 25. The alleged gunman was not before the court. The Public Prosecution Service said McKee’s life had been taken in a reckless act of violence that left her family and friends with enduring grief.

McKee was 29 when she was shot on April 18, 2019, while covering riots in the Creggan area of Derry/Londonderry. The New IRA later admitted responsibility and apologized, saying she was not the intended target. Her death was widely described by reporting and press-freedom groups as the first killing of a journalist in Northern Ireland since Martin O’Hagan in 2001.

The trial itself was sprawling by Northern Ireland standards. Reporting and judiciary summaries said the nonjury case involved nine defendants and 52 charges, with the evidence phase concluding in April 2026 after nearly two years of hearings. The acquittals on Friday did not revisit the original shooting, but they did underline how much of the criminal case still turned on proving the wider support alleged around the gunman’s actions.

McKee’s family said they would keep pursuing justice and vowed that “no stone will be left unturned.” They also criticized what they called a “culture of silence” in Northern Ireland, saying people with information had not come forward. One report said more than 150 people witnessed the shooting. The result leaves the courtroom record with no murder convictions, and the question of who bears criminal responsibility for the killing remains unresolved.