Gun which killed journalist 'used in earlier murder'

The gun used to murder journalist Martin O'Hagan was fired earlier this year in another killing linked to a Loyalist feud.

The Sunday World reporter was hit in the back by four of seven shots fired at him as he walked home from his local pub in Lurgan, Co Armagh with his wife.

Police are believed to have established that the German gun was the same used in the murder of Grahame Marks in Tandragee, Co Armagh on April 11.

That killing came during a feud between the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the Ulster Volunteer Force.

The LVF is believed to have been responsible for the murder of Mr O'Hagan, 51, on Friday.

Mr Marks, 37, who was shot dead in his own home, is believed to have had loose links with the UVF and was singled out as a "soft target".

Mr O'Hagan is believed to have been targeted because of his investigations into links between the LVF and drug dealing.

The organisation did not claim responsibility for the killing.

That was made in the name of the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used regularly by the LVF and the much larger Ulster Defence Association.

Mr O'Hagan, who leaves a wife and three daughters, was buried in his home town yesterday after a funeral attended by hundreds of journalists from throughout Britain and Ireland.