Journalist Martin O'Hagan's murder unsolved 25 years on in Lurgan

Martin O'Hagan was shot dead in Lurgan, County Armagh in 2001; no one has ever been convicted. His brother says he suspects British agents were involved.

No conviction after 25 years: who killed journalist Martin O'Hagan?

Twenty-five years after investigative journalist Martin O'Hagan was shot dead walking home from a pub in Lurgan, County Armagh, no one has been brought to justice for his murder. BBC News reports that his family remain frustrated by a string of unfulfilled pledges from police and government officials.

O'Hagan, 51, was killed alongside his wife on a street in Lurgan in 2001. The killing was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders — a cover name used by both the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and the Ulster Defence Association. He was the first journalist to be murdered in Northern Ireland since the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969.

As a reporter for the Sunday World, O'Hagan had built a reputation for exposing paramilitaries and drug dealers operating across Northern Ireland. He had particularly angered County Armagh paramilitary figures, including the murdered LVF leader Billy Wright, whom he had labelled "King Rat" in print after investigating crime and drugs rackets linked to Wright's organisation.

Family suspects state involvement

His brother Fintan O'Hagan told BBC News NI that within a short time of the killing, police assured the family they would catch those responsible. "We, like fools, believed them," he said.

Fintan now believes the perpetrators were British agents. A 2022 BBC Spotlight investigation revealed that security sources told police the names of people said to have been involved in the killing within 48 hours — but that no action was taken on the information. Given the extensive surveillance of the Mid Ulster LVF at the time, Fintan said it was "just unbelievable" that intelligence services would not have known O'Hagan's murder was being planned.

There had also been talk, Fintan said, that his brother "was digging into collusion, digging into the finances of the LVF — but there was never any proof." He also reflected on Martin's decision to move to the outskirts of Mourneview, a loyalist estate: "Martin said at the time: 'the war is over'. It's all very well wishful thinking but at the end of the day it was a foolish thing to do. He made it easy for them and that's a very hard thing to live with."

Police Ombudsman review under way

The family have flagged a number of details about the case with the Police Ombudsman's office. Fintan said that if those details are not included in an upcoming report, it is "not worth the paper it's written on." He described the family's approach as "business-like" after so many previous disappointments.

In a statement, the Ombudsman's office confirmed that the new Police Ombudsman, Jacqui Durkin — appointed in June — has been in contact with the O'Hagan family and "assured them that the completion of the public statement is one of her early priorities." The statement added that Durkin "is actively reviewing the draft public statement and will provide the family with a publication timeline in due course."

A UK government spokesperson described O'Hagan's murder as a "horrific attack on freedom of speech" and urged anyone with information to contact police. "The safety of journalists is paramount," the spokesperson said. "The UK government remains steadfastly committed to ensuring journalists are able to carry out their work free from threat, intimidation, or violence."

A background that complicated the response

Martin O'Hagan had a history of involvement in the Official IRA and spent five years in Long Kesh prison in the early 1970s for moving weapons. Fintan said his brother turned his back on violence after his release, completed a degree and became a journalist.

Fintan believes that background affected how the murder was received publicly: "The first journalist [to be murdered in Northern Ireland], the flag bearers of free speech and the right to know is journalism, and it didn't really catch fire the way it should have — and I think it was his background of being a working-class republican."

Contrast with Veronica Guerin

Colleagues and campaigners have drawn a sharp contrast between the official response to O'Hagan's murder and that of journalist Veronica Guerin, who was killed in Dublin five years earlier after writing a series of exposés on organised crime. Within a week of Guerin's murder, the Irish government passed the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 and the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996, leading directly to the formation of the Criminal Assets Bureau. Brian Meehan was subsequently convicted for his role in her killing.

Richard Sullivan, who worked alongside O'Hagan at the Sunday World, recalled that the then Secretary of State John Reid stood in their offices and pledged that no stone would be left unturned in pursuing the killers — and that journalists in Northern Ireland would be able to work free from threat.

"Yet journalists continue to be threatened, even right up to this current day," Sullivan said. "And obviously, 25 years, a quarter of a century after Marty was killed, there's no sign of a prosecution."

Fintan O'Hagan said he remains "hopeful" that the truth will eventually emerge, but cautious: "It will come out — whether or not it confirms everything that I have experienced and seen and read, I doubt it." He added that without continuing to fight for answers, "the guilt would kill me."

Source: BBC News