Former partner of journalist Lyra McKee hopes her death haunts her killer

The former partner of journalist Lyra McKee has said she hopes her death "haunts" her killer's "every waking minute".

Lyra McKee was shot and killed when a dissident republican gunman opened fire during rioting in Londonderry on 18 April 2019.

On Friday three men, Paul McIntyre, Peter Cavanagh and Jordan Devine, were found not guilty of her murder.

Sara Canning, Lyra's partner at the time of her killing, described the gunman as "pathetic", adding they were "showing off for the cameras" on the night she was fatally shot.

"You've never contributed one thing to this world. What you did that night was pathetic," she said.

"I hope you can't sleep at night… I hope it haunts your every waking minute."

On the night Lyra was killed an MTV crew were filming a documentary in Derry.

However, the MTV camera crew had left the scene before the shooting took place.

During the trial, in footage played in court, TV presenter Reggie Yates could be heard saying: "If people are saying we're inciting it, then maybe we should call it a night."

Sara said the killer was "showing off for Reggie Yates - that's really pathetic".

"It was showing off for cameras, it wasn't to free Ireland, it wasn't to make the life of people in Creggan and Derry and Ireland better."

Lyra died after being hit by a bullet as she stood close to police vehicles while watching the disturbances in the Creggan area of Derry.

Earlier, a police operation targeting dissident republican activity had been carried out nearby. Crowds had gathered and disorder followed after with petrol bombs being thrown at police and stolen vehicles set alight.

Four gunshots were fired in the direction of police by a masked man. Lyra was shot and killed by a single bullet to the head.

The New IRA, a dissident republican group, later said it carried out the killing.

Lyra's former partner told BBC News NI she knows who the gunman is and knows "what he looks like".

She added: "I don't possess the hate and the evil in me to hurt people the way that you do."

Friday's not guilty verdicts have been "gutting", said Sara.

It is difficult now, she added, to believe there will ever be justice for Lyra.

That, she said, would require someone to have "a massive change of heart or we find some really compelling evidence".

Friday's verdicts brought to an end a trial that lasted almost two years and more than seven years after Lyra was shot dead.

In total, nine men faced a total of 52 charges, including rioting, all of which they denied. One defendant has since died.

None of the men charged with murder was accused of firing the fatal shot which killed the 29-year-old journalist.

The prosecution's case was that they accompanied a lone gunman to a firing point on the night Lyra was killed, and encouraged or assisted him.

At the end of Friday's hearing, the judge Mrs Justice Smyth said the outcome of the trial would bring "little, if any, comfort or relief" to the family and friends of Lyra.

She added: "Lyra McKee was murdered in an act of senseless violence."

Sara said the trial had been a difficult process.

"You have two years where you're just so hopeful, and then it's completely dashed and taken away," she said.

"I understand why the judge made the decision she made," she said, adding "I don't feel like we were warned enough about the possibility that our chances would be nil."

The system, she said, has let Lyra down.

Following the verdicts the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said it was "satisfied that our legal test for prosecution was met and that it was in the public interest to bring the case".

"The case successfully overcame a number of robust legal challenges during the proceedings."

The PPS said it recognised the "acquittals will be deeply disappointing to Lyra's family and loved ones".

Lyra was a journalist and campaigner from Belfast who had only recently moved to Derry.

Seen by many as a rising star, she had written for many publications, including Buzzfeed, Private Eye, the Atlantic and Mosaic Science.

She was named Sky News young journalist of the year in 2006 and Forbes Magazine named her as one of their "30 under 30" in media in Europe in 2016.

That same year, she wrote of being "a ceasefire baby" and of being part of the "Good Friday Agreement generation".

Her killing came 21 years after the Good Friday peace agreement was signed in Northern Ireland.