Hyde had confessed to a number of offences in September 2008 as a member of the LVF involving drugs, arson, firearms, and withholding information regarding a murder. In 2012, he was sentenced to three years in prison. In January 2012, Belfast Crown Court was informed that Hyde had agreed to become an "assisting offender" or supergrass in investigating O'Hagan's death. Hyde stated that he was inside a Lurgan flat on the evening of the murder: he was aware that a loaded gun was present, but was not involved in the killing. He gave the police the names of those in the flat, and also shared information regarding the murder of Graham Edward Marks in 2001. While Hyde originally agreed to testify against O'Hagan's killers, a decision was made by Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory in January 2013 to dismiss the use of his witness statement as unreliable. In June 2013, the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland appealed his lenient sentence with the changed circumstances, but they later dropped the review. The appeal was the first of its kind under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. Hyde was placed into witness protection.
