The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has welcomed the decision by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) to order MI5 and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to pay £20,000 in damages to former BBC journalist Vincent Kearney for unlawfully obtaining data from his mobile phone and conducting surveillance.
Kearney, a member of the NUJ, took legal action following the emergence of information in the case of Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, which was reported in Yorkshire Bylines. In February, a three-day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice revealed details of unlawful surveillance of Kearney’s professional and personal life that lasted over a decade. His family was also subject to intrusion: the PSNI admitted creating profiles of his wife and mother-in-law using data obtained from Kearney’s phone.
A sustained campaign
Lawyers for the BBC and Kearney said the then BBC Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent had been subject to seven separate MI5 or police operations, including by the Metropolitan Police, that unlawfully obtained Kearney’s confidential communications data between 2006 and 2018. This unlawful monitoring enabled the security authorities to access details of his confidential contacts, sources and locations, breaching his right to protect his sources and putting both him and them at risk.
Kearney, who is now Northern Ireland editor for RTÉ News, previously described the actions of MI5 and the PSNI as an attack on public interest journalism that had “a chilling effect”, and said former BBC colleagues had suffered damage to their relationships with sources. He said the tribunal ruling on 23 July was a victory for journalism and the legal rights of journalists to protect sources.
A landmark case
The BBC, which brought the case alongside Kearney, said in its response: “Today’s findings are welcome, necessary and significant. We hope that their effect will be to protect journalists and their freedom to report and investigate stories into the future.”
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher accepted the tribunal’s findings and apologised to Kearney. He said the authorisations were “not in accordance with the law” and were disproportionate.
NUJ assistant general secretary Séamus Dooley welcomed the outcome as a “landmark judgment” and a “clear and unambiguous vindication of our member Vincent Kearney and the BBC”.
He said the case had given a “deeply worrying insight into the actions of the police and security forces against journalists”, and the judgment “reinforces the need for a judge-led inquiry into the unlawful surveillance of journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders by police and security forces”.
He said it was “vital” that MI5 be scrutinised in any such review. “For far too long, national security has been used as a shield by police and intelligence services – but the IPT findings have revealed an abuse of that cover that can no longer be tolerated.” The Irish Times reported on the tribunal’s decision.
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