Northern Ireland

Lyra McKee's family issue 8,000 letters to people of Creggan

The McKee family have also placed a number of billboards around Derry as part of the Justice4Lyra campaign.
The McKee family have also placed a number of billboards around Derry as part of the Justice4Lyra campaign. The McKee family have also placed a number of billboards around Derry as part of the Justice4Lyra campaign.

The family of murdered journalist, Lyra McKee are distributing 8,000 letters in Derry’s Creggan and surrounding areas in an effort to bring her killer to justice.

Sunday marks the second anniversary of the killing of the 29-year-old writer. Ms McKee was standing beside a police Land Rover during a riot in Derry’s Creggan on the night of April 18 2019 when she was shot and killed. Responsibility for her death was later claimed by dissident republican group, the New IRA.

While one person – who denies the charge - has been charged in connection with Ms McKee’s murder, the gunman who fired the fatal shots has never been apprehended.

In a bid to uncover more evidence about her death, Ms McKee’s family have issued an appeal in Irish and English in the form of a letter to people living in Creggan.

In the letter, the family said Ms McKee was killed less than two months after moving from her “working class North Belfast” home to live in Derry – with her partner, Sara Canning. Less than a year after Ms McKee’s murder, her mother died from a “broken heart”. Her family said Joan Lawrie did not live to see justice for her daughter’s murder.

“Our family continue to struggle to deal with the loss of our sister and mother but we are determined to pursue justice for them both. We believe that you can help us.

“We continue to be grateful to the 150 people who have come forward with information relating to our Lyra’s murder but, so far, this has not led to the outcome we need: the arrest and conviction of the gunman who is ultimately responsible for robbing us of both our sister and our mother,” the family said.

In a direct appeal to people living close to the scene of Ms McKee’s murder, the family asked that anyone with any information which would help achieve “justice for our Lyra” to share that information.

Earlier this month, the Justice4Lyra campaign erected a number of billboards around Derry urging people to come forward with information about her killing.

Ms McKee’s family will mark the second anniversary of her death by laying flowers at her grave and at Fanad Drive in Derry where she was shot dead. Civic buildings in Derry and Belfast are also being lit up in her honour.