Lyra McKee’s funeral will be a celebration of her life - partner

Sara Canning, posting on Facebook, has asked people attending the service “to wear Hufflepuff, Harry Potter, or Marvel related items” as “I know she would love it”.

A large attendance is expected at Lyra’s funeral, which will take place on Wednesday, April 24, at 1pm at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.

Lyra McKee was shot and killed by a masked gunman who opened fire during a night of disturbances in Londonderry on Thursday night last.

The Belfast journalist had recently moved to the city, where she had been living with her partner. Sara said on Friday that she has been robbed of the woman she thought she would grow old with.

She bravely took to the stage during a rally in Creggan to address the huge crowd who had turned out to show their revulsion at the killing on Friday afternoon.

Speaking just yards from where her beloved partner was fatally wounded the previous night on Fanad Drive, Sara Canning told those gathered: “The senseless murder of Lyra McKee has left a family without a beloved daughter, a sister, an aunt and a great aunt, and has left so many friends without a confidante.

“Victims in the LGBTQIA community are left without a tireless advocate and activist, and it has left me without the love of my life, the woman I was planning to grow old with.

“We are all poorer for the loss of Lyra. Our hopes and dreams, and all of her amazing potential was snuffed out by a single barbaric act. This cannot stand.”

Sara fought back tears as she concluded: “Lyra’s death must not be in vain because her life was a shining light in everyone’s else’s life and her legacy will live on in the light that she has left behind.”

A minute’s silence was then held at the end of a rally which saw Unionist and Nationalist politicians from north and south of the border sweep aside differences and come together in a show of solidarity with the family and friends of Lyra McKee and the people of the city.