On Tuesday 17 December the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London ruled police officers acted illegally by spying on journalists Trevor Birney and his colleague Barry McCaffrey, in a bid to identify their sources. Yorkshire Bylines has previously covered the case.
Police acted unlawfully by spying on journalists
The groundbreaking judgment found that in carrying out the undercover surveillance operation, the police’s actions were disproportionate and undermined the domestic and international protections available for the media. The pair were arrested in 2018 after they produced No Stone Unturned, a film about the 1994 Loughinisland killings. The film exposed alleged collusion between police and loyalist gunmen who murdered six Roman Catholic men as they watched a World Cup football match in a local pub in the village.
The film has been broadcast by RTE, Ireland’s national television and radio broadcaster in 2020 and 2024. The film trailer can be viewed here:
The IPT found that the Metropolitan Police unlawfully put McCaffrey under surveillance in 2012, while the Police Service of Northern Ireland was found to have done so in 2013.
The tribunal also quashed a 2018 direct surveillance authorisation targeting the Belfast-based journalists, on the same day they were arrested, and their suspected source, the first time it is believed to have taken such action.
The court has ordered the PSNI to pay £4k each to McCaffrey and Birney. The ruling is of significance because it is the first time that the IPT has ordered a police force to pay damages to journalists for unlawful intrusion. The amount is similar to previous financial damages granted by the European Court of Human Rights to journalists Dirk Ernst and Natalia Sedletska after Belgian and Ukrainian authorities were found to have breached their Article 10 rights to protect journalistic sources.
Landmark ruling
Laura Davison, newly appointed general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the IPT hearing and the determination was a landmark ruling with profound implications for media freedom in the UK.
She said: “By taking the case to the IPT Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney have been responsible for shedding light on a very dark episode in the murky history of surveillance against journalists. Our union has always been concerned at the secretive nature of the IPT and the lack of transparency in how evidence may be heard. The public sessions and the tenacious quest for answers by the various legal teams provided an insight into the operation of the IPT, as well as insights into the way in which decisions were taken by those responsible for policing in Northern Ireland.
“We learned some of what happened to Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney. Many questions remain unanswered. The IPT hearing cannot be the end of this matter since it has raised so many fundamental questions.”
Seamus Dooley, the union’s Assistant General Secretary paid tribute to McCaffrey and Birney and all involved in No Stone Unturned and to NUJ members for their support in defence of the right of journalists to work without the shadow of surveillance.
Calls for a public inquiry into police spying
As a result of the case going to the IPT, the PSNI has already been forced to admit they spied on 300 journalists and 500 lawyers in Northern Ireland.
Only a public inquiry can properly investigate the full extent of unlawful and systemic police spying operations targeting journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in the North.
Whilst this case has finally come to an end, the story of police secret spying operations is far from over.
You can read the full NUJ statement here.
