Lyra McKee murder accused ‘in joint enterprise with unknown gunman’

Paul McIntyre, 52, was remanded in custody at Londonderry Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after appearing charged with the murder of the journalist last April.

During a 50-minute hearing, defence lawyer Derwin Harvey said: “The allegation against Mr McIntyre is that Mr McIntyre is at this riot and a male shoots the gun and that Mr McIntyre, after the gun was shot, picks up the cases.”

The court heard a lengthy defence submission applying for bail, but the judge adjourned the hearing until he received further information from prosecution about the evidence linking McIntyre to the charges.

Mr Harvey said the case rested on a “snapshot” of low-quality mobile phone footage which the prosecution claims showed a man wearing clothing matching what his client was wearing earlier in the day.

A PSNI detective, who said she could connect McIntyre to the charges, outlined the extent of evidence police had examined in the last nine months.

That included five hours of footage taken by an MTV camera crew which was making a documentary in the area, mobile phone footage and witness statements from members of the public and police.

She said all that information had been presented to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), which in turn sought the opinion of senior legal counsel.

The detective said: “The opinion returned was the test for prosecution in this matter has been met.”

She objected to bail on the grounds of potential interfering with witnesses, risk of further offending and of fleeing the jurisdiction.

Mr Harvey said it was an unusual case, given that his client had appeared in court before on lesser charges connected with the same incident.

He appeared before a judge in May last year charged with riotous behaviour and arson.

The lawyer said the crux of the case against McIntyre was an expert report that compared clothing worn by the man seen picking up the bullet casings with two clips of footage of McIntrye in Londonderry earlier in the day.

He said the key items of clothing were a pair of Adidas trainers, O’Neill’s tracksuit bottoms and a black cap.

He highlighted that the expert who compiled the report did not definitively state that the person picking up the casings was McIntyre, instead saying the person was a “suitable candidate” in respect of matching the accused’s appearance.

He said two witnesses police had spoken to described McIntyre as being between 5’8 and 5’10 tall. He added that his client was 5’2, stressing that there was a “massive discrepancy”.

Mr Harvey said: “There is no clear evidence linking Mr McIntyre to this event.”

Mr Harvey said his client had denied involvement in the murder more than 50 times during police interviews.

He said when the charges were put to McIntyre on Wednesday he replied: “I did not murder anyone. If police speak to witnesses it will show it was not me.”

He said the footage that showed a man picking up the bullet casings was a “matter of seconds” long and was taken on a mobile phone and not the high-definition MTV cameras. He noted the film crew had left the scene by that stage.

The lawyer continued to highlight that even if a court was satisfied that it was McIntyre picking up the bullet casings that did not make him guilty of murder by joint enterprise.

He said joint enterprise required foreknowledge that murder was going to happen and the gun was going to be fired.

“There are hurdles in relation to the concept of joint enterprise which on the evidence presented are insurmountable in my opinion,” he said.

McIntyre will next appear in court on February 27.

Ms McKee, 29, was shot dead by dissident republicans while observing rioting in Londonderry in April.