2019 Derry riot orchestrated for MTV filming, journalist Lyra McKee murdered while observing.
Belfast Crown Court heard evidence suggesting that rioting in Derry on the night journalist Lyra McKee was murdered in April 2019 was orchestrated to "put on a show" for an MTV camera crew. Masked men who threw petrol bombs at police were "entirely at ease" with being filmed, suggesting their involvement had been pre-planned. McKee, a 29-year-old journalist and author, was shot in the head while observing the riot, and the New IRA claimed responsibility for her murder. Three men, Paul McIntyre, Jordan Gareth Devine, and Peter Cavanagh, are charged with her murder, while seven other men are on trial on charges of rioting and throwing petrol bombs. The prosecution argues that none of the three defendants were the gunman who fired the fatal shot, but their actions at the scene demonstrate their involvement in the violence that night.