The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has conceded to the unlawful acquisition of telephone data belonging to Belfast journalist Vincent Kearney over the course of several years.
During one operation targeting Kearney, records of 1,580 phone calls and messages sent and received by him were obtained. An extensive dossier on the journalist was also compiled by the PSNI, incorporating details about his vehicles, as well as personal information relating to his wife and mother-in-law. The actions by law enforcement, according to case materials, were intended to uncover the confidential sources utilized for his journalistic investigations.
These revelations emerged at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London during the hearing of a complaint lodged by Kearney and the BBC, which was his employer at the time. In a related development last year within the same proceedings, MI5 acknowledged that it had infringed upon Kearney’s right to protect his sources and his right to privacy by obtaining unauthorized access to his communications data in 2006 and 2009.
Kearney’s barrister Jude Bunting informed the Independent Inquiry that his client’s communications data had been acquired unlawfully over a period exceeding a decade, spanning seven separate operations conducted by the police and MI5. The data obtained, according to Bunting, encompassed detailed telephone records, along with the names and addresses of individuals who had been in contact with Kearney.
The hearings at the Tribunal are anticipated to continue for several days, with a portion scheduled to be conducted behind closed doors, barring the press and the public from attendance.