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'Troublemaker journalists' phone records accessed, court hears
(HTM) Source
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**A court in London has heard claims that the PSNI accessed the phone
records of "troublemaker journalists" to try to uncover their
sources.**
The claim was made by Ben Jaffey KC.
He is a lawyer acting for two journalists from Northern Ireland who
believe they were targeted by unlawful covert surveillance.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is examining allegations that the
PSNI used unlawful covert surveillance in an attempt to unmask
journalists' sources.
Evidence given to the tribunal in a witness statement from a former
Durham police employee refers to a Police Service of Northern Ireland
(PSNI) "defensive operation".
It involved "cross-referencing (telephone) billing with police
telephone numbers on a six monthly basis" of Northern Irish
journalists.
Mr Jaffey, who is acting for Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, said
this operation was apparently in place at the end of 2017 and seems to
have been in place for some time.
It included all Northern Irish journalists who were perceived to
conduct unwanted investigations into the PSNI every six months.
He said it appears that Barry McCaffrey was one such journalist
affected by this so-called "defensive operation".
He argued that as well as being obviously unlawful, this rolling
programme of authorisations has never been disclosed or explained in
the PSNI evidence to the tribunal to date.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is examining allegations that Mr
Birney and Mr McCaffrey were subject to unlawful covert surveillance.
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