Woman shot dead in Derry riots loved and hated the country she wrote about with passion

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Lyra McKee, the journalist who was shot dead during riots in Derry, once described Northern Ireland as a “beautiful tragedy”.

Her home, she said, was strangled by the chains of its past and present. “It’s a place full of darkness and mysteries … sometimes, I love it and hate it in equal measure.”

On Thursday night the 29-year-old became what is believed to be the first journalist killed in the UK in the line of duty since Martin O’Hagan was shot in 2001 in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Police blamed her death on a suspected dissident republican who was firing at officers during riots in the Creggan area of Derry.

It was a shocking end for a young talent who made her name with a blogpost about growing up gay in Belfast which went viral and launched an acclaimed but brief career as a chronicler of the Troubles.

The 2014 post, “Letter to my 14-year-old self”, was turned into a short film. In 2016, Forbes magazine named McKee as one of “30 under 30 in media”, citing her passion for digging into topics few others cared about.

She justified that description by writing her first book, Angels With Blue Faces, a non-fiction investigation of the murder of Robert Bradford, a Methodist minister and Ulster Unionist party MP for South Belfast who was killed by the IRA in 1981.

In the introduction, McKee described her home as a “piece of rock that many on mainland UK seem to forget exists”.

For all its darknesses, she said she was proud of her home. “Despite being a tiny country, we disproportionately contribute talent to the rest of the world.”

The book was due to be published imminently, her publisher at Excalibur Press, Tina Calder, said. Expressing shock at the death of her friend, Calder said she was considering whether to push ahead with the publication: “It’s only last week that she approved the cover; we’re only a week or so away from releasing it. The book has been fully written and edited.”

As McKee’s career developed, Faber likewise recognised her talent and outbid other publishers last year to sign her up for two further books.

Hope amid tragedy: reaction to Lyra McKee's death is glimpse of another Northern Ireland Read more

The first, The Lost Boys, was due to be published next year. It focused on the unsolved disappearances of children and young men during the Troubles. Not all were believed to be victims of paramilitaries.

McKee expressed gratitude for the opportunity to tell their story and hopefully to help find answers for their families.

Laura Hassan, Faber’s editorial director, said she was hooked by McKee’s singular, crisp prose. “I loved the blend of investigative journalism, true crime, memoir and social history in The Lost Boys. McKee has that knack of engaging the head and the heart – the fate of these children is deeply affecting and we’re engaged too with her argument that these missing children tell us something of a whole lost generation, that of the ‘ceasefire babies’.”

McKee, Hassan added, had a long and prestigious writing career ahead of her.

Northern Irish police call for peace in name of killed journalist Read more

On Friday, politicians from across the political spectrum condemned the killing.

Mike Nesbitt, a former UUP leader, said he met the author while she was investigating Bradford’s death. “Thirty-eight years later, Lyra herself is murdered. Investigative journalism is essential to democracy. Like Robert’s murder, this was an attack on democracy.”

McKee’s friends also spoke of their loss. Matthew Hughes, a journalist who described her as one of his closest friends, said he was heartbroken. “She was my mentor,” he wrote on Twitter. “She was a groomswoman at my wedding. I can’t imagine life without her, and yet now I must. I’m devastated.”

A crowdfunding appeal to cover funeral costs and to consider ways to honour McKee’s legacy was launched on Friday. In its first hour online it raised more than £5,000.

