Police reconstruct journalist's murder

Martin O'Hagan was shot dead last Friday night

Police in County Armagh have staged a reconstruction of the murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan.

RUC officers retraced the journalist's steps near his home in Lurgan on Friday to try to jog people's memories.

Police stopped motorists and pedestrians in the area asking for information - hoping for any detail that might lead to an arrest.

Mr O'Hagan, 51, was shot dead as he walked home from his local pub a week ago.

Friday-night regulars at the Carnegie Inn, where Mr O'Hagan and his wife were enjoying a night out before the killling, were also questioned by police.

Martin O'Hagan: Investigative journalist

The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used in the past by both the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association, said it carried out the murder.

The weapon used to kill the father-of-three is understood to have been linked to a previous LVF shooting.

Earlier on Friday the O'Hagan family renewed their appeal for no retaliation for the killing.

Mr O'Hagan's widow, Marie, said the family want no more killings.

Loyalist

"We want no more killings in this country. This country and its people have suffered enough," she said.

"A week to the day after Martin's death, we know what real suffering means and we do not want it visited on some other family."

RUC chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan said that police inquiries are concentrating on the LVF.

Mr O'Hagan worked in the Belfast office of the Dublin-based Sunday World, where he built a reputation covering paramilitary and drugs-related stories.

He had recently been working on a number of stories involving LVF members.

Detectives want anyone with any information to contact them at Lurgan RUC station.