Three men accused of the 2019 murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Londonderry have been acquitted. Mrs Justice Smyth delivered her judgment in the long-running non-jury trial at Belfast Crown Court. Paul McIntyre, 58, of Kells Walk in Derry, Peter Cavanagh, 38, of Mary Street, and Jordan Gareth Devine, 25, of Bishop Street, had faced a joint enterprise murder charge.Ms McKee, 29, died after being hit by a bullet as she stood close to police vehicles while observing disturbances in the Creggan area of Derry on 18 April 2019.Several petrol bombs had been directed at police and a car was set on fire during chaotic scenes which culminated in four shots being fired towards officers.The New IRA claimed responsibility for the death of Ms McKee.The murder of Ms McKee prompted an outpouring of condemnation and grief in 2019, which quickly spread beyond Northern Ireland and went around the world.A woman stops to pay her respects at the scene on Fanad Drive, Londonderry, where 29-year-old journalist Lyra McKee was shot. (PA)Her killing sparked widespread outrage and led to pressure being exerted on politicians to break an impasse and start talks to restore the then suspended powersharing institutions at Stormont.Former Irish president Michael D Higgins, then prime minister Theresa May and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were among the mourners who attended her funeral.Originally from Belfast, Ms McKee had only recently moved to Derry before she was killed, to live with her partner Sara Canning.She had tweeted about the “absolute madness” in Londonderry in the hours before she was shot dead.Ms McKee rose to prominence in 2014 after a blog post called “Letter to my 14-year-old self” in which she spoke about the struggle of growing up gay in Belfast.In subsequent years, her letter was turned into a short film, she became a published author and she had signed a two-book deal with Faber & Faber, as well as appearing in domestic and international publications.Named as one of the “30 under 30 in media” by Forbes Magazine in 2016, Ms McKee was cited for her passion of “digging into topics that others don’t care about”.She was killed just weeks before her book, Angels With Blue Faces, was due to be published.The non-fiction book was about the Troubles-era cold case murder of South Belfast MP Rev Robert Bradford.She had also been an editor for California-based news site Mediagazer, a trade publication covering the media industry.Flowers left at the scene where Lyra McKee was shot. (PA)The National Union of Journalists described Ms McKee as one of the most promising journalists in Northern Ireland.She was also regarded as a hero to many in the LGBT community in Northern Ireland.Public outrage over her death placed immense pressure on politicians to break a two-year political deadlock at Stormont, at a time when the devolved powersharing institutions were suspended.The reaction to her killing helped kickstart political talks in 2019 as part of a bid to break the stalemate.Paying tribute at Ms McKee’s funeral, her sister Nichola Corner said: “We have the power to create the kind of society that Lyra envisioned.“One where labels are meaningless.“One where every single person is valued.“One where every single child gets the chance to grow up and to make their dreams come true.”She added: “In the words of Lyra herself, we must change our own world one piece at a time, now let’s get to work.”