The 29-year old died after being struck by a bullet fired at police during a riot in 2019
Attempts to have the cases thrown out against nine Derry men accused of offences linked to the death of Lyra McKee were refused today.
The 29-year old died after being struck by a bullet fired at police during a riot in the Creggan area of Derry on April 18, 2019. A total of ten men from the city were charged with a range of offences and a trial commenced at Belfast Crown Court in May 2024.
Three defendants were charged with murdering Ms McKee, possessing a firearm and ammunition and other linked offences including rioting and both possessing and throwing petrol bombs.
They are not alleged to have fired the gun used to kill Ms McKee but with intentionally encouraging or assisting the gunman on a joint enterprise basis.
The trio are Paul McIntyre, 58, from Kells Walk, 25-year old Jordan Devine from Bishop Street and Peter Cavanagh, 37, from Mary Street – all of whom deny the charges against them.
Their co-accused were charged with offences including rioting and throwing petrol bombs.
They are Christopher Gillen, 45, from Balbane Pass, Joseph Campbell, 25, from Gosheden Cottages, 33-year old Patrick Gallagher from John Field Place, Jude McCrory, 28, from Gartan Square, Joseph Barr, 37, from Sandringham Drive, and 57-year old Kieran McCool from Ballymagowan Gardens.
A tenth defendant, 58-year old William Elliot from Ballymagowan Garden in Derry, passed away in England in last February.
The Crown closed its case against the defendants last year and following this, legal teams representing the remaining nine defendants launched ‘no case to answer’ applications. The defence submitted this on the grounds that none of the defendants have a case to answer based on insufficiency of evidence.
The question for the court, which was sitting without a jury, was whether it is convinced that there are no circumstances in which it could properly convict on the evidence.
As she gave her detailed ruling at Belfast Crown Court today where Ms McKee’s loved ones sat in the public gallery, trial judge Mrs Justice Smyth said: “Having considered all of the evidence I do not consider that there are no circumstances in which I could properly convict any of the defendants charged with murder.”
Regarding the remaining defendants, Mrs Justice Smyth said that whilst there were “weaknesses in the identification evidence”, she said: “Having considered the evidence as a whole, I do not consider that there are no circumstances in which I could properly convict any of the defendants charged with the remaining offences.”
Prior to outlining her conclusion, Mr Justice Smyth said the defendants could be divided into two groups. The first were “masked individuals” alleged to have been involved in the riot – namely McIntyre, Cavanagh, Devine, Gillen and Campbell.
The “unmasked individuals” accused of assisting or encouraging the masked individuals to riot are Gallagher, McCrory, Barr and McCool.
The senior Judge said the prosecution case was “based on circumstantial evidence” including footage from MTV who were making a documentary about Saoradh and who were filming in Derry on the afternoon and evening of April 18.
Other strands of evidence included identification/recognition evidence from PSNI officers at controlled viewings, evidence from imagery analysts and bad character evidence.
Regarding the identification evidence, Mrs Justice Smyth said she was “satisfied” a member of the PSNI’s Major Investigation Team showed footage of suspects to officers in the Waterside District Support Unit because those officers “had specialist knowledge of dissident Republicans suspected of the disorder and the killing of Lyra McKee.”
She told the court she did not accept that the evidence established bad faith or that the purpose of showing the footage was to falsely identify any individual.
However, she added: “That does not in any way justify what can only be regarded as deeply disturbing behaviour by an experienced police officer who displayed an unhealthy desire to identify the perpetrators at any cost.”
Deeming this a breach in her ruling, Mrs Justice Smyth determined this identification evidence was not admissible because the “egregious breaches rendered the recognitions of masked individuals unreliable.”
After concluding her ruling and rejecting all the ‘no case to answer’ applications, Mrs Justice Smyth said all the evidence in the case “must be considered as a whole” and that “final conclusions” about the weight of all the evidence “cannot be determined at this stage of the trial.”
Following this, she addressed the defence to enquire whether any of the defendants wanted to give evidence. Mark Mulholland KC, representing McIntyre, said he needed a little time to consider today’s ruling and consult with his client.
He suggested indicating to the court administratively on Monday when the trial will be in position to reconvene. After other defence barristers took the same stance, Mrs Justice Smyth agreed to this defence request.
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