The by election took place on 7 March 2013.
In the run-up to the election, media attention focussed on past allegations about Molloy and how they related to the DUP/UUP-supported independent candidate Nigel Lutton – in 2007, DUP MP David Simpson had claimed during a debate in the Westminster parliament that Molloy had been a member of the IRA and was suspected by police of being involved in the fatal shooting of Lutton's father, Frederick Lutton, on 1 May 1979.
The IRA had taken responsibility for it on the basis he was an RUC reservist.
The investigation came to nothing, and Simpson claimed this was because Molloy was subsequently coerced into becoming a police informant, providing information that helped break up the IRA's East Tyrone brigade.
Molloy denied the allegations at the time, and challenged anyone to repeat them outside Parliament so he could take legal action (the original speech being subject to parliamentary privilege and thus not actionable).UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said he had been unaware of the speech and that it had played no part in Lutton's selection.
Lutton denied the claims were behind his decision to stand.