Journalist Lyra McKee shot dead in Derry in April 2019 by New IRA terrorists
Peter Gearóid Cavanagh, 34, of Elmwood Terrace, Derry is charged with murdering Ms McKee on Thursday, April 18, 2019.
He is also charged with further offences relating to rioting on the night Ms McKee was shot dead.
On Wednesday, a High Court judge in Belfast dismissed an application to vary Mr Cavanagh’s bail terms.
He had been seeking to have an electronic tag removed and the curfew he is subjected to lifted.
The court was told police had “significant concerns” about variations to Cavanagh’s bail conditions.
Opposing the application, a prosecution barrister said police thought Mr Cavanagh was “still involved in dissident republican activity and still linked to Saoradh”, the political wing of the New IRA.
The barrister told Lady Justice McKeegan it was alleged Cavanagh had escorted the gunman to the corner where he had fired from on the night Ms McKee was killed and had also thrown petrol bombs.
Pete Cavanagh (on right) was at one time Saoradh’s national secretary
The court was told it had since been forensically linked to the murder as well as four other shootings.
Cavanagh had been involved in protests both this year and in 2021, the court heard.
A defence lawyer told the court his client would deny any involvement in protests.
He said Cavanagh “‘was no longer a member of Saoradh’ and no longer associated with the organisation.
The court heard that Cavanagh had abided by his bail conditions and had only been charged in September 2021.
The bail conditions were impacting on his family life, the court was told.
Refusing the bail variation, Lady Justice McKeegan said she has been told a committal hearing in the case would go ahead in January 2023.
She told the court she did not see any reason to vary Cavanagh’s bail and said the current conditions are “proportionate”.
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