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A case involving allegations of unlawful surveillance against MI5 and police forces is set to be heard by a London court. The BBC, together with one of its former journalists, has brought the matter before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), which handles complaints related to covert intelligence activities. The journalist at the centre of the case is Vincent Kearney, who was subjected to telephone surveillance.
Vincent Kearney served at BBC Northern Ireland for 18 years before leaving in 2019. The case is scheduled to span several days, with some sessions expected to be closed to both the public and media. Notably, last September MI5 acknowledged that it had violated Kearney’s rights by unlawfully accessing his communications data in 2006 and 2009. Kearney also asserts that both the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Metropolitan Police targeted him, and they are named respondents in the proceedings.
The tribunal faces key decisions in the case, including whether damages should be awarded and if the BBC itself suffered unlawful interference regarding journalistic material. Reflecting on his experience, Kearney said he felt “treated as a suspect rather than a journalist.” He elaborated, stating, “This case has established that I was the target of a systematic and years-long pattern of law enforcement agencies illegally accessing my journalistic sources and mapping my professional activity.” Kearney highlighted the damaging impact on his ability to conduct public interest journalism, noting that relationships with sources were “damaged and, in some cases, destroyed.” He emphasized the need for accountability to prevent a recurrence of such actions.
A spokesperson for the BBC underscored the seriousness of the unlawful interference in Kearney’s work, describing it as a violation of essential protections for public interest journalism. “The independence of what we do is hard won and it’s something that we will fight to protect – reflecting the vital role that public interest journalism plays in a free society,” the spokesperson said. During his tenure at the BBC, Kearney was the home affairs correspondent with a focus on police and security matters; he now serves as the northern editor of RTE News.
The origins of legal action related to Kearney became apparent during a previous IPT case involving journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, in which the PSNI was ordered to pay damages of £4,000 each in 2024 for unlawful surveillance. Subsequently, the PSNI commissioned Angus McCullough KC to undertake an independent review of its practices regarding the surveillance of journalists and lawyers. Ahead of the upcoming hearing, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, Patrick Corrigan, expressed hopes that the case would shed light on “the true scale” of surveillance of journalists, urging for “full transparency, genuine legal accountability, and a decisive end to unlawful spying on the media.
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