A Derry man charged with the murder of the journalist Lyra McKee in the city last year is accused of picking up the casings from the bullet used to kill her.

Paul McIntyre was charged at Derry’s magistrates court on Thursday accused of joint enterprise with an unknown gunman.

McKee was shot dead in Derry on 18 April 2019 while she witnessed a riot. The 29-year-old reporter and LGBT activist was hit by a bullet after a gunman emerged from crowds in the Creggan area and fired at a line of police Land Rovers.

In a 50-minute hearing attended by the murdered writer’s partner, Sara Canning, McIntyre’s defence team claimed the case against him rested solely on a “snapshot” of low-quality mobile phone footage.

Defence lawyer Derwin Hervey said the crown’s case was based on footage that the prosecutors claim shows a man wearing clothing that matched what McIntyre was wearing that day.

“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,” Harvey said.

McIntyre’s defence team delivered a lengthy submission to apply for bail but the judge adjourned the hearing until he received further information from the prosecution about the evidence it claims can link the 52-year-old to the charges.

Before the hearing there were minor clashes outside the courthouse in Bishop Street as supporters of McIntyre refused to move from its entrance. Up to 40 police officers scuffled with the protesters.

As McIntyre was brought out of a Ranger Rover there were loud cheers of support for the republican. They held up placards claiming he was a “political hostage” and a “British scapegoat”.

Inside court McKee’s sister Nichola Corner was among a group of several people who wore T-shirts with the image of the murdered journalist on them.

McIntyre who was arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on Tuesday is also charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and professing to be a member of a proscribed organisation.

McIntyre will appear in court again on 27 February.

Three other men arrested and taken to the PSNI’s Musgrave serious crime suite in Belfast were released from custody on Tuesday night.

A 20-year-old and a 27-year-old were freed pending a report to Northern Ireland’s public prosecution service while a 29-year-old was released without charge.

The New IRA admitted responsibility for the fatal shooting, which sparked international outrage. The terror organisation opposes the political settlement in Northern Ireland, regarding it as a “sellout” of traditional republican principles. It is the largest and most active anti-peace process armed group operating in Northern Ireland.

At McKee’s funeral in Belfast’s St Anne’s Cathedral, attended by both the prime minister at the time, Theresa May, and the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, a priest exhorted local politicians to restore the-then deadlocked and closed Northern Ireland assembly in response to the murder.

Her family recently issued a formal complaint to the police ombudsman in Northern Ireland over how the PSNI carried out a search operation in Derry before her killing. It is alleged that the searches prompted rioting in the Creggan district the following day when McKee was shot dead.

The PSNI said the search operation was necessary because it was aimed at disrupting violent dissident republican activity in Derry.

McKee had moved from her native Belfast to live in Derry with her partner.

The reporter had written for online news website BuzzFeed and US current affairs magazine the Atlantic. Her work included a detailed feature on the rising rates of suicide in Northern Ireland after the paramilitary ceasefires and the 1998 Good Friday agreement.