civil partnership

Steven Smyrl and Roy Stanley have been together for more than 20 years, and they entered a civil partnership in 2011.

Roy said that when they entered their civil partnership, it allowed family members to attend - some of whom died before they would marry seven years later.

Michael Conlon, from Belfast, lived in the Republic of Ireland at the time of the referendum and was in a civil partnership with his now husband, Ger.

"I had always assumed civil partnership was pretty much it. You got all the rights as marriage and it turns out, in the south, that wasn't the case," he said.

The pair were in a long-term relationship and a year before their death, had entered into a civil partnership together, the prosecution told the Jury.