Wife of murdered journalist Martin O’Hagan passes away

The vigil held in September 2021 to remember Martin O'Hagan 20 years after he was shot dead. He was the only journalist killed during the Troubles. Picture Matt Mackey / Press Eye.

A family notice said Marie O’Hagan passed away peacefully in hospital on April 22.

She was the “dearly loved mother of Martina, Cara and Niamh, loving mother-in-law of Neil, Trevor and Terry, precious granny of Chloe, Connor, Owen and Kady and a dear sister of John, Gary, Kenny, Melvin and the late Noel and Dorothy.”

Marie O’Hagan had been with her husband, a journalist with the Sunday World, when he was targeted as they walked back from a night out in Lurgan on September 28, 2001.

There has been a campaign for justice for Martin throughout the past two decades. No one has ever been charged with his murder, suspected to have been carried out by members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).

A vigil marking the 20th anniversary of the investigative reporter’s death last September saw relatives, journalists and trade union representatives gather outside the Police Ombudsman’s offices in Belfast.

Just last month it emerged that the O’Hagan family is suing the PSNI and the Ministry of Defence alleging the authorities had information that could have prevented his killing.

According to BBC Spotlight, the legal proceedings are based on a claim by a former soldier that three days before the murder, he warned Army intelligence Mr O’Hagan was going to be killed.

Marie O’Hagan’s funeral is to be private at her own request.