‘I hope that Lyra’s killer is haunted every night by his deed’

● Sister of young journalist shot dead five years ago tells of her grieving family’s painful wait for justice

Anine-year-old girl was standing close to journalist Lyra McKee when she was shot dead while observing a riot in Derry five years ago. “That young child could just have easily been killed, thank God she wasn’t. But we lost our Lyra, my baby sister,” Nichola Corner-McKee told the Sunday Independent the week before the anniversary of her beloved sister’s death.

“She was at that riot for eight minutes. That’s all the time it took for her life to be ended.

“I still get Facebook memories that pop up from her. They are like messages from heaven. I still expect her to walk in the door and say: ‘Why are you moping? Why are all my photos up on the wall?’”

Next week, Lyra’s family and loved ones will mark the anniversary of her death on April 18, 2019. Her killing, by dissident republicans, was the last murder directly linked to the Troubles.

Has time eased the family’s grief ? “It doesn’t feel like five years at all. People say it gets easier, but I miss her even more, that’s the reality,” Ms Corner-McKee said.

“Our family has been left with a life sentence, a life without Lyra, and we didn’t commit any crime. And Lyra was given a death sentence.

“Some days feel normal, some days I can’t get out of bed. In response, we try and share Lyra’s message of love and hope with the world.”

The New IRA admitted responsibility for the 29-year-old journalist’s killing soon after the shooting and apologised, saying its gunman had been aiming at police.

Lyra had been one of Northern Ireland’s most promising young journalists, but was so much more than that to her loved ones, her sister said.

Several people are currently charged in the North with crimes linked to the fatal shooting, including rioting offences.

But the gunman remains at large. The knowledge of this is a constant source of anguish to her loved ones: “Even though the police know who he is, he hasn’t been charged. Our priority is that he will be. But that person is still walking the streets and he is a danger. We would like to know who he is, but we don’t.

“We could be at an event, in a shop, and he could be standing beside us and we wouldn’t know. We cannot grieve properly until that man is brought to justice.”

Ms Corner-McKee praised the lead police investigator in the case, but said the priority must be to bring criminal charges against her sister’s killer.

“I have offered before and I’ll now extend that offer again now — I will meet that man anywhere and walk with him to a police station to hand himself in,” she said.

“We haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in five years, how has he? I hope he is haunted every night by what he did. He took away one of the kindest, most beautiful souls ever to grace the world.

“Lyra’s family, her partner Sarah, the entire world, we lost something so special. We lost Lyra’s light.”

It is not just the gunman who still needs to be brought to justice, it’s the entire leadership of the New IRA, her sister said: “He went to a riot and opened fire, apparently indiscriminately. But he didn’t do that without a chain of command.”

Lyra would have turned 34 on Easter Sunday. Easter is particularly difficult for the murdered journalist’s loved ones.

In a tragic twist, Ms Corner-McKee’s son’s birthday falls on the same day Lyra was murdered. “There is only three years between them. They grew up together, they were very close, they were like brother and sister really. It’s like he lost his sister and on his birthday,” she said.

Lyra was particularly close to her mother, Joan, who she lived with part of the week and helped care for.

The heartbroken mother of six died a month before Lyra’s first anniversary. “My mum, she was only 69 when she died. She was full of life,” Ms Corner-McKee said.

“I have no doubt they [Lyra’s murderer] prematurely ended her life. I blame my sister’s killers for my mum’s death, too.

“It just killed her. She used to say: ‘How am I going to live without my Lyra?’”

The bereaved family are awaiting a trial date for the 10 men charged in connection with the killing. There have been some false starts, as well as some suspects granted bail, further adding to the family’s pain.

“We’re in limbo,” Ms Corner-McKee said. “The trial could go ahead at the end of this month, but if it doesn’t, we might have to wait until September.

“It is very hard, when you prepare yourself to go and sit in court, only to be gutted when it doesn’t go ahead. It’s devastating.

“Some of these men have gotten bail, but we never get free from it. There are no bail variations for us. Lyra deserves justice. She has human rights, too.”

Justice prevailing would finally free Lyra’s family and allow then to grieve properly, she said. But focusing on the positivity her sister, who was 15 years younger, brought to the world also helps.

Lyra’s life was blossoming at the time of her murder. “I love speaking about Lyra. She was just so kind, so generous, to all. She would do anything for anyone,” she said.

“If she didn’t like someone’s views, she would still try to understand them, without judging them. Maybe that’s what made her such a good journalist.

“She always wanted to give a voice to people who didn’t have one. She was driven by a strong sense of justice and empathy.”

Born in 1990 in Belfast, Lyra won the Sky News young journalist award in 2006 and wrote for numerous newspapers, magazines and websites. She was featured as one of Forbes’s “30 Under 30” and declared a rising literary star by The Irish Times.

She wrote about the Troubles as well as LGBTQ+ and women’s rights in Northern Ireland, and her essay about growing up gay in Belfast, A Letter to My 14-Year-Old Self, went viral in 2014.

She was the first reporter to be killed on duty in Northern Ireland since Sunday World investigative journalist Martin O’Hagan was shot dead by loyalists in 2001.

Lyra had also signed a two-book deal with Faber a year before her death.

But her path into journalism wasn’t easy, her sister said, and she worked hard to establish herself.

“There were barriers to her in the world of journalism, which was quite a middle-class environment. There were lots of barriers in her life growing up. But she always persevered,” she said.

“She was just achieving major breakthroughs in her career.”

Lyra wrote extensively on the Troubles and had a gift for prophecy, which could only be identified after she died. Her writings detailed her fears of being murdered because she was a journalist and how she would fire back with an imaginary gun.

The day before she was shot dead, Lyra rang her sister to tell her about a troubling dream in which she was shot dead. “I didn’t realise it then, of course, but my little sister had a prophesy,” she said.

In 2022, Lyra, a film about the journalist’s life and death was released. The film repurposes voice recordings and interviews from her dictaphone. It also uses text messages, home movie footage and other archives. It has travelled the world, with some of the McKee family going with it, and has won several international awards.

“Lyra wanted to change the world,” Ms Corner-McKee said. “She wanted to use her voice to do so.

“We’ve been trying to carry on her legacy and change the world for her. We’ve had people from all over the world tell us how the film changed their life, for the better.

“How she’s inspired them to keep trying, even when life is hard. Lyra was so against violence.

“All we want to do now is change the mindset of even one person, because that can make a big difference. That can save someone’s life.”

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) has also established the Lyra McKee bursary, which trains people from underprivileged backgrounds who aspire to become journalists. “That was exactly what Lyra was all about. Our family are dedicated to keeping the bursary fund going. It is all part of keeping Lyra’s legacy alive.

“We know there is no pulling back a magic curtain. But Lyra’s voice continues to inspire people from beyond the grave.”

Peter Gearoid Cavanagh (33), of Elmwood Terrace, and Jordan Devine (21), of Synge Court, both in Derry, are charged with Lyra’s murder. They deny the charges. They are also charged in connection with rioting on the same date.

Patrick Gallagher (29), of Pinetrees, Joe Campbell (21), of Goshaden Cottages, Kieran McCool (53), of Ballymagowan Gardens, Jude McCrory (24), of Magowan Park, Joseph Barr (33), of Cecilia’s Walk and William Patrick Elliott (56), of Ballymagowan Gardens, all in Derry, are charged with rioting and throwing petrol bombs.

We have been left with a life sentence. Lyra was given a death sentence