Stormont deal: Lyra McKee's partner says Stormont wait 'too long'

Lyra McKee was observing rioting in Londonderry's Creggan estate when she was shot

Lyra McKee's partner has said it should not have taken nine months from the journalist's murder for Stormont to be restored.

Sara Canning said she remains to be convinced if the parties can work together.

She said if the assembly's restoration was part of her partner's legacy, "we would have seen it a lot sooner".

Ms McKee was shot dead while observing rioting in Londonderry's Creggan estate on 18 April.

• 'Lyra's murder brought us back to these talks'

• Profile: Lyra McKee

• Mourners pay respects to Lyra McKee

The New IRA said its members were responsible for the killing.

At her funeral, Fr Martin Magill received a standing ovation when he criticised politicians over the political deadlock.

"The day they were called out at Lyra's funeral to the day it was announced Stormont was coming back, it was 261 days, the guts of nine months, that's too long," Ms Canning told BBC Radio Foyle.

"We saw them going back to talks after Lyra was murdered. All they promised was talks, that's all they delivered."

Last week, as the British and Irish governments published the text of a draft deal aimed at restoring power sharing, Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Coveney spoke of Ms McKee's murder.

He said it was "very important to remember, it is the awful murder or Lyra McKee that brought us back to these talks nine month ago".

"If it was truly Lyra's legacy, we would have seen it a lot sooner," Ms Canning said.

She added: "The loss of life wasn't enough, to be fair it has never been enough, we have seen lots of other victims, Lyra is not alone.

"Their lives haven't been enough to make our politicians work together."

Sara Canning, centre, taking part in a rally Belfast earlier this year

No one has been charged in connection with Ms McKee's murder.

Ms Canning said she also continues to struggle to come to terms with the murder of her partner.

"It's a really hard thing to come to terms with, when you don't have that justice," Ms Canning said.

"There was a time I would look at every man of a particular build, see people who you knew were connected to that group and you would be thinking "he knows".

"That person knows who killed my Lyra. But they have to live with the fact they did that, people have to live with the fact they know who did that.

"I don't know how anybody could be ok with that, you have to be missing something deep in your soul," she said.