Jim McDowell, who served as Northern editor of the Sunday World for 25 years, has died aged 76.

McDowell reported on paramilitary and drug-related crime in Northern Ireland over five decades. He named individuals he alleged were involved in loyalist activity, including suspects in the 2001 murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan in Lurgan, County Armagh.

The Public Prosecution Service later declined to pursue a review of a reduced sentence in the O'Hagan case. McDowell stated that justice had not been achieved for his colleague.

He received multiple death threats. His home was fitted with bulletproof windows and security cameras. In 2009 he was assaulted at the Christmas market outside Belfast City Hall.

McDowell worked for the News Letter in the 1970s and later as editor of the Sunday News. He co-founded the Ulster Press Agency with Brian Rowan and Joe Oliver.

In 1996 he sustained leg injuries in a helicopter crash near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

He wrote a column for The Irish News during the 1980s and 1990s and appeared on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, where he commented on Belfast City Council.