Daughter and wife at scene of journalist’s murder

The distraught wife of Northern Ireland journalist Martin O’Hagan, shot dead as he walked home from his local pub, tonight recalled the last minutes of his life.

Marie O’Hagan escaped death when the Sunday World reporter pushed her into a hedge as gunmen struck a few yards from their home in Lurgan, Co Armagh.

‘‘I can’t really remember what happened,’’ she said.

‘‘People tell me Martin shoved me into the hedge and used his own body to try to shield me.

‘‘It’s coming back to me in flashes but the fact that I wasn’t shot dead or wounded speaks for itself.’’

The couple, who had been to the Carnegie Inn in the town centre, where they began their courtship more than 30 years ago, were close to their Westfield Gardens home when gunmen pulled up in a car and fired at them at least seven times.

The reporter for the Dublin-based Sunday World was shot twice in the back. As he lay dying on the pavement he told his wife to ‘‘get an ambulance’’.

One of his three daughters, Ciara who is due to be married in a few weeks time, was passing by in a car when she saw her father slumped on the ground.

‘‘I thought he had maybe tripped and fell,’’ she said.

‘‘I jumped out of the car. Then I saw the blood on his shirt.

‘‘I grabbed his jacket and tried to wrap it round him to keep him warm.’’

The murder has been claimed by loyalist terror group the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association.

In a call to a Belfast newsroom the group said they shot the 51-year-old journalist for ‘‘crimes against the loyalist people’’.

Senior security sources believe that the LVF, which has a strong presence in Lurgan and nearby Portadown, carried out the killing.

Mr O’Hagan had a history of run-ins with the LVF leader Billy Wright, who was himself gunned down by republicans in the Maze Prison in December 1998.

In 1993, he was forced to flee Northern Ireland after receiving death threats from Wright, whom he had dubbed ‘‘King Rat’’ and had written a series of exposes about the murderous activities of his gang, the ‘‘Ratpack’’.

Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid, who has given the UDA a ‘‘final warning’’ over the state of its ceasefire, said tonight: ‘‘There is no indication at the moment that it was a UDA-inspired killing and I wait further information.’’

The newspaper has given police the name of the man who had singled him out close to his home.

‘‘He was told by a certain individual ‘we have you clocked walking up and down this street’. The man who spoke to him is a loyalist fanatic,’’ said Sunday World northern editor Jim McDowell.

Mr O’Hagan had recently been working on a number of stories, involving members of the LVF, the hard-line terror group, which split from the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1996.

Detectives are to examine these stories carefully in a bid to catch his killers.

The fearless reporter had a history of run-ins with the LVF leader Billy Wright, who was himself gunned down by republicans in the Maze Prison in December 1998.

In 1993, he was forced to flee Northern Ireland after receiving death threats from Wright, whom he had dubbed ‘‘King Rat’’ and had written a series of exposes about the murderous activities of his gang, the ‘‘Ratpack’’.

Mr McDowell said his colleague had remained courageous to the end.

‘‘Marty threw Marie into a hedge and shielded her with his body as the gunmen fired. He took two of the bullets.’’

The MP for the area, Unionist leader David Trimble described the murder as ‘‘cowardly’’.

‘‘Tragically, Lurgan has witnessed yet another murder and I would call upon the wider community to assist the RUC in any way possible as they seek to bring to justice the perpetrators of this act.’’

A committed trade unionist, Mr O’Hagan was the secretary of the Belfast branch of the National Union of Journalists.

General Secretary John Foster said he would be remembered for ‘‘his courageous coverage of events in Northern Ireland, exposing the deeds of those who opposed peace and democracy’’.

‘‘It is appalling that while not one journalist was killed in the 30 years of conflict, a brave one has died now during the loyalists’ supposed ceasefire,’’ he added.

Tonight staff at the Sunday World were preparing a special tribute edition of the paper for their dead colleague.

Mr McDowell vowed that the paper would be as hard-hitting as ever.

‘‘Everyone in here is wrecked. But were not going to demean Marty’s memory by stepping back. We will be going out strong tomorrow,’’ he said.

Hugh Jordan, who worked with Mr O’Hagan for 10 years, paid tribute to his friend and colleague: ‘‘Marty was tenacious. He wouldn’t let go of a story. He had great enthusiasm for his job.

‘‘He was totally against violence in any shape or form. He was committed to the eradication of paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland.

‘‘This is a sad loss, not just for his family and his paper, but for the wider community. He was a man who contributed to a better life for everybody.’’