Three men were acquitted on Friday of the 2019 killing of Northern Irish journalist Lyra McKee.
McKee, 29, was killed while reporting on clashes between police and the New IRA, a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army. The clashes occurred in Londonderry, also known as Derry.
The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland and political leaders from Northern Ireland’s Protestant and Catholic communities attended her funeral. As a result of her death, politicians revived Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government, which had collapsed in 2017.
What do we know about the verdict?
Justice Patricia Smyth of the Belfast Crown Court said the verdict would not bring “little if any comfort or relief” to McKee’s family, but said circumstantial evidence was not sufficient to merit a conviction.
“Lyra McKee’s murder was an act of senseless violence,” Smyth said. “The gunman has never been brought to the court and the evidence against those accused of assisting or encouraging has fallen short of that required for conviction.”
The three men were charged as accomplices to the murder. They all pleaded not guilty and none testified.
The New IRA opposes the Irish peace process and seeks an end to British control over Northern Ireland. The New IRA said that one of its members had shot McKee.
McKee’s sister: N. Ireland justice system ‘failed’ her family
McKee’s sister Nichola Corner said after the verdict that the justice system had “completely failed” her family.
“Today has come as a complete and utter shock to us as a family,” Corner said outside the court. She said 150 people had potentially witnessed her sister’s death and lamented a “culture of silence needs to stop in Northern Ireland.”
Edited by: Sean Sinico
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