PSNI chief apologises to Loughinisland journalists after raids on their homes
NATIONALIST politicians have welcomed an unreserved apology from Northern Ireland’s police chief to two journalists arrested over material that appeared in a documentary on a Troubles massacre.
Simon Byrne wrote to Trevor Birney and Barry Mccaffrey to apologise after the Court of Appeal quashed a search warrant used to raid their homes and offices in August 2018.
Mr Mccaffrey and Mr Birney were arrested over the alleged theft of a police watchdog document that appeared in their film No Stone Unturned on a notorious loyalist massacre in Loughinisland. Six men were shot dead while watching football in a pub in the Co Down village in the summer of 1994.
The investigation into the documentary makers was later dropped.
As the probe had involved a Police Ombudsman document, the PSNI had asked Durham Constabulary to direct the raids in August 2018, to avoid a conflict of interest.
Mr Byrne, who sent separate letters to the men yesterday, acknowledged that Durham Constabulary was acting on the PSNI’S behalf.
In the letter to Mr Birney, he wrote that he was writing on behalf of the PSNI “to place on record my unreserved apology to you and your family for the distress and upset caused by the execution of search warrants at your home and business premises on 31 August 2018”.
“Whilst the searches were planned and conducted at the direction of officers from Durham Constabulary, those officers were acting on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in an external capacity and I fully accept the ruling of the Lord Chief Justices that the search warrants were unlawful,” he wrote.
“I can assure you that the Police Service of Northern Ireland will be reviewing all of the findings of the judgment to ensure that all appropriate learning is taken. I have already notified your legal representatives that I am keen to resolve all outstanding matters through a process of mediation in order to bring this matter to a conclusion.”
Last year judges ruled search warrants used by police had been “inappropriate”. This resulted in the criminal probe into the journalists being discontinued.
Last Friday, a panel of judges sitting in the Court of Appeal ruled the conduct of the hearing to obtain the search warrant fell “woefully short” of the standard required to ensure that the hearing was fair.
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan told the court that the journalists had at all times acted as investigative reporters adhering to their professional code.
Mr Mccaffrey welcomed the apology.
“It’s unfortunate that it has taken the PSNI 685 days to do the right thing and finally apologise since they raided our homes at 7am on August 31, 2018,” he said.
“The Chief Constable says the PSNI will look at what lessons need to be learned. I sincerely hope it does. I think it’s obvious that this was a lesson on how not to do policing in a democratic society. This was a deliberate and direct attack on press freedom.
“On the morning of our arrest, the police publicly accused us of having put people’s lives at risk.
This was an outrageous slur on our personal and professional reputations.
“The Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan made it clear in his judgment that this was completely untrue and without foundation.
“We have had to live for the last two years with that highly damaging slur hanging over our heads. Who in the PSNI is going to be held to account?”
Mr Birney’s solicitor Niall Murphy said there remained serious outstanding issues to address, including the PSNI retention of data seized.
“Mr Birney welcomes this morning’s unreserved apology,” he said.
“He is however conscious that actions speak louder than words and look forward to the words being met with decisive reparative action in the upcoming mediation between the parties, a matter which the Chief Constable personally referenced in the apology.”
Mr Mccaffrey added: “Unfortunately, even though the court found that the PSNI unlawfully obtained our personal data, they still refuse to delete the confidential material belonging to us which they still retain.
“They say they want to hold on to this material, even though it was obtained illegally, for 10 years. Why is that? This isn’t North Korea, this is supposed to be the north of Ireland 2020.”
Welcoming the apology, SDLP policing spokesperson Dolores Kelly MLA said the journalists had been “treated appallingly by police for nothing other than doing their jobs as investigative journalists”.
“Their pursuit by police while the Loughinisland families continue to struggle for justice was a stain on policing and degraded confidence in the PSNI,” she said.
“There are serious questions about the cost of the investigation and the subsequent legal action to the public purse and I’ll be raising those with the Chief Constable. It’s important now that the PSNI learns from this process. No journalist should be subjected to this kind of treatment in the future.”
Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly also welcomed the apology.
The party’s policing spokesperson said: “This case should never have been pursued in the first place.
“As opposed to having been detained and their properties searched, both of these men should have been commended and thanked for their top quality service to society in exposing the collusion in the Loughinisland massacre.”