SOUTH Down MP Chris Hazzard was in London yesterday (Tuesday) for a landmark ruling by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal when it delivered its verdict on unlawful surveillance of journalists who made a documentary on the 1994 Loughinisland massacre.
The tribunal ruled that both the PSNI and Metropolitan Police acted illegally spying on the two journalists to identify their sources.
Mr Hazzard joined Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, the men who brought the case, as the IPT delivered its verdict.
It found that the actions of police when mounting an undercover surveillance operation were disproportionate and undermined the domestic and international protections available for the media.
The PSNI has been ordered to pay £4,000 to each complainant.
A covert sting operation in 2018 targeted a civilian employee of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman.
They were suspected of passing secret documents to the journalists which appeared in the ‘No Stone Unturned’ documentary about the Loughinisland killings; and which revealed how the police had colluded in protecting loyalist gunmen who murdered six Catholic men as they watched a World Cup football match in the village pub.
Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney were later arrested, with their homes and offices searched.
They subsequently won a court case which found that warrants used to search their homes had been inappropriate.
A High Court judge said they have acted properly in protecting their sources in a lawful way and the PSNI later paid damages amounting to £875,000.
The men brought their case to the IPT, arguing that there were repeated and unjustified attempts by police to identify their sources.
During the tribunal hearing in October, a lawyer for the PSN denied there had been a cynical attempt to deliberately circumvent the long-established legal protections for journalists and their sources.
In a written judgement, the IPT rejected police claims that the surveillance operation had only been designed to target the Police Ombudsman official.
It was also stated that the further disclosures to the tribunal revealed the Metropolitan Police had acted illegally by accessing the phone records of Mr McCaffrey in 2012.
The Met also obtained more than 4,000 text messages and phone communications belonging to Mr Birney, Mr McCaffrey and journalists working for BBC Northern Ireland. This data was later shared with the PSNI.
Mr Hazzard said the IPT ruling was “resoundingly and rightly in favour of the powerful work of journalists, including the remarkable Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey.”
He continued: “As these investigative journalists carried out their job, including assisting victims and families, police forces and state bodies from across these islands sought to criminalise them for doing so,” he said.
“This is a momentous day, vindicating the work and relentless determination of these two remarkable journalists.
“As outlined today, Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey were illegally targeted by police as they exposed shocking levels of state collusion.
“It is not lost on the people of South Down that the time, effort and resources deployed by the British state to suppress journalists stands in stark contrast to the abysmal failure to investigate the murder of six men watching a football match in Loughinisland in 1994.”
Drawing to a conclusion, the MP added that “truth and justice must always prevail.”
