Shauna Corr: 'Lyra McKee was always a champion for the downtrodden and forgotten'

Anyone who has ever spent time with Lyra McKee will have walked away feeling their life was all the better for it.

I first met the brave, kind and funny North Belfast woman as a budding reporter on the NCTJ course at Belfast Met seven short years ago.

This tiny, tenacious and self-deprecating charmer had the whole class eating out of the palm of her hand with her unwavering view of journalism.

I was blown away then by her unbending focus and passion for the job – and that hasn’t changed as the years passed.

Here was a woman who didn’t curry favour with those in positions of power or drop the ball because it was easier. And she encouraged us all to follow the same path.

Lyra McKee, Freelance journalist, writer, editor pictured at TEDxStormont Women 2017 in the Great Hall, Parliament Buildings (Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye)

Two men arrested in connection with murder of Belfast journalist Lyra McKee in Derry 

At just 22, she was already a force to be reckoned with in her pursuit of the truth. The Kincora Boys Home scandal was what held Lyra’s attention back then.

In more recent times it had shifted to unsolved murders, forgotten because of the Troubles.

Lyra was many things to many people, but she was always a champion for the downtrodden and forgotten and she would have done anything to help anyone.

We got back in touch in 2015 when I stuck up for her against a Twitter troll. “A gem” she called me and we remained friends since.

The thing that really hits home today is just how much we all lost when her bright light was snuffed out by this senseless act.

Belfast Journalist Lyra McKee (JESS LOWE/EPA-EFE/REX)

Pat Flanagan: Callous murder of journalist Lyra McKee shows peace in the North is under threat 

Here was a young woman finally reaping the rewards of all her hard work with book deals and Ted-X talks and even plans for a Netflix series.

Passionate in everything she did, Lyra held a torch for her new city after leaving her beloved Belfast to be with the love of her life.

But when she took her final breath at just 29, her future and everything she offered the world was stolen from us.

None of us will feel the void, however, like her mum, partner and family, whom she loved fiercely.

I just hope some good comes from all of this pain.