NOT for the first time, a family has stood on the steps of a courthouse lamenting the failure of the justice system.

This past week it was the turn of Lyra McKee’s relatives.

Speaking after not guilty verdicts were recorded against three men accused of her murder, Lyra’s sister Nichola Corner said: “The system has completely failed Lyra and has failed our family, and has failed Northern Ireland, to be honest.”

In her judgment, Mrs Justice Smyth acknowledged the family’s pain, but said the evidence against the three accused was “wholly circumstantial” and fell short of the level needed to convict.

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The verdict is one we have to accept. That does not mean, however, that we must draw a veil over this event.

Justice demands that the authorities redouble their efforts to find Lyra’s killer.

In her statement, Ms Corner focused in on the unwillingness of witnesses to come forward.

“People are afraid to speak out,” she said. “They are afraid to tell the truth, they are........

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