Man (52) appears in court charged with murder of Lyra McKee

Paul McIntyre, whose address was given on court papers as Kinnego Park, is charged with the murder of 29-year-old Lyra McKee on April 18, last year.

The writer was shot during rioting in Creggan.

The 52-year-old defendant is further charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent and belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA.

Lyra McKee’s partner Sara Canning was present in court along with a number of friends.

A number of Lyra’s family members were also present for the hearing and were wearing t-shirts with a picture of her on them.

There was a noticeable police presence within Bishop Street Courthouse as the defendant appeared.

McIntyre spoke to confirm his details, however refused to stand or confirm that he understood the charges.

An investigating officer told the court that as part the investigation into Miss McKee’s murder police have obtained MTV footage, footage filmed by members of the public and witness statements.

She said all the information was provided to the Public Prosecution Service and senior counsel decided it met the test for prosecution.

The officer told the court bail in the case was opposed due to risk of flight, interference with witnesses and the risk of committing further offences.

Defence solicitor Derwin Harvey said that the sole evidence against his client is a report assessing images obtained by police and the clothes worn by a man seen picking up police casings after the gun was fired.

He said that the draft report was available in October last year, when his client was granted bail in relation to a riot charge he faces in connection to the events of the same evening.

However, the investigating officer said a final report was provided in December last year which included further images of the incident provided by members of the public.

The solicitor added that he has previously raised issues about discrepancy in the height of the man police believe to be his client, as witnesses described him as being taller.

He said he had also invited police to seek biometric evidence in relation to these images, as there is ‘no scientific background’ to the conclusions of the expert.

Mr Harvey told the court the expert says he is ‘satisfied’ the person police believe to be McIntyre is a ‘suitable candidate for the person who picks up the casings’.

The solicitor said given that is the sole evidence against his client it was his opinion that ‘this case isn’t going to get off the ground’.

Mr Harvey also invited police to speak to a witness who will ‘exonerate’ his client.

District Judge Barney McElholm adjourned the bail application for police to carry out further investigations into the issue of height, biometric evidence and to speak to the witness.

He said these issues were important for the court to assess the strength of the risk of flight.

McIntyre was remanded in custody to appear in court again on February 27.