A police officer involved in the Lyra McKee murder investigation was today accused of “breaking every rule in the book” regarding the identification of suspects.
Ms McKee was killed after being struck by a bullet fired at police by the New IRA during a riot in the Creggan area of Derry on the evening of April 18, 2019.
In the aftermath of her death, a murder investigation was launched and one of the officers involved gave evidence at her murder trial on Monday.
The detective sergeant was questioned on what a defence barrister branded as a “secret viewing” regarding images of masked men involved in the riot.
This viewing took place before a formal ‘controlled viewing’ which the non-jury trial has already heard was in breach of normal police procedure and protocol.
The detective sergeant confirmed that at the time of the contentious viewing – which he estimated took place on a day between July 8 and July 12, 2019 – he was part of the major investigations team based in the Maydown PSNI station in Derry.
The court heard that as part of the investigation into Ms McKee’s death, still images of masked men at the riot were uploaded onto an internal police system.
The aim of this was a bid to establish whether any officers could identify the masked men in the images.
The detective sergeant confirmed that no identifications were made from the still images and that some time at the start of July 2019, he decided to show a number of clips to members of the district support team (DST).
He did this without any direction from his superiors and failed to make relevant entries in his notebook about it.
After viewing footage supplied by the detective sergeant, one of the four officers from the DST identified Peter Cavanagh as being one of the masked men rioting in Creggan.
This DST officer has already given evidence and he claimed that after making the identification, the detective sergeant nodded at him.
Cavanagh (36), from Mary Street in Derry, is one of three men from the city charged with murdering Ms McKee, possessing a firearm and ammunition and other linked offences including rioting and possessing and throwing petrol bombs.
The other two men facing the same charges are Paul McIntyre (57), from Kells Walk, and 24-year-old Jordan Devine from Bishop Street.
Seven co-accused, who are also from Derry, are facing charges including rioting and throwing petrol bombs.
They are Christopher Gillen (44), from Balbane Pass, Joseph Campbell (24), from Gosheden Cottages, 32-year old Patrick Gallagher from John Field Place, Jude McCrory (27), from Gartan Square, Joseph Barr (36). from Sandringham Drive, 56-year-old Kieran McCool from Ballymagowan Gardens, and William Elliot (58), who is also from Ballymagowan Gardens.
All 10 men have denied the charges against them.
Under cross-examination from defence barrister John Kearney KC, who is representing Cavanagh, the detective sergeant was quizzed about the July 2019 meeting which took place in the Waterside.
Mr Kearney branded the viewing process as a “secret meeting” and one which took place prior to a formal controlled viewing.
This formal process, Mr Kearney pointed out, was always conducted in the PSNI’s cyber support unit and was on a “one-on-one” basis involving the identification officer and the officer viewing stills or CCTV footage.
After the detective sergeant confirmed he was aware of the procedure, Mr Kearney then asked him: “You would have known it was highly inappropriate before you purport to recognise anyone to have a chat with colleagues. Is that right?”
The detective sergeant replied: “That’s correct, yes.”
Mr Kearney then asked the witness if he was aware it was “highly inappropriate” to have a group identification before a controlled viewing, to communicate with colleagues about “who knows who” and to have “chit chat among colleagues with names being named”.
To each point, the detective sergeant replied “yes, that’s correct”.
Mr Kearney added that by bringing footage to the four officers in a “secret showing”, the detective sergeant was “breaking every rule in the book”.
The detective sergeant said “I wouldn’t say that” and added that at the time he was showing “better quality footage” to the four DST officers for potential identification purposes.
He did, however, accept that he didn’t record the viewing in his notebook and that he didn’t take any statements when one of the officers made an identification.
Regarding his client, Mr Kearney asked if there were any positive “hits” from the stills that were uploaded onto the police system.
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The detective sergeant confirmed that via this initial appeal, there were none.
He was also asked about a claim that he nodded during the “secret meeting” when one of the officers identified Cavanagh.
The witness said that while he was “aware of his evidence”, he added “that’s his account, but I don’t recall doing that”.
Regarding a second DST officer who was present at the July 2019 viewing, Mr Kearney put it to the detective sergeant that she “denies being there… according to her, she wasn’t even in the building”.
After being asked “does this surprise you?”, the detective sergeant said yes. And when asked by Mr Kearney “are you as sure as sure can be?” about her presence, he again replied yes.