Journalist: lawyers called in over claims of alleged police surveillance of ex BBC journalist

The BBC in Northern Ireland has started a legal process to find out if one of its former senior Reporters was spied on by police.

It centres around Vincent Kearney, who is now RTE's Northern Editor.

The BBC said the allegations related to Mr Kearney and his work on a 2011 Spotlight documentary that probed the independence of Northern Ireland's police watchdog.

The journalist said he is determined to find out what happened.

The claims emerged as part of a case already being examined by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) into allegations two other investigative reporters working in Northern Ireland have been subject to unlawful covert surveillance by police.

In 2018, Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney were controversially arrested as part of a police investigation into the alleged leaking of a confidential document that appeared in a documentary they made on a Troubles massacre.

The PSNI later unreservedly apologised for how the men had been treated and agreed to pay £875,000 in damages to the journalists and the film company behind the documentary.

In 2019, Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey lodged a complaint with the IPT asking it to establish whether there had been any unlawful surveillance of them.

The tribunal is also probing two other instances of police surveillance against Mr McCaffrey in 2013 and 2011. It sat for a brief hearing in February and is due to resume its work later in the year.

It is understood information suggesting Mr Kearney might also have been subject to surveillance emerged during the disclosure processes related to Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney's case.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We have instructed lawyers to write to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal about the alleged PSNI surveillance of telephone data linked to the work of Vincent Kearney during his employment with the BBC, in connection with a BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight programme broadcast in 2011.

"We think that serious issues of public interest are involved, including in relation to the adverse effects that surveillance may have on journalistic investigations and freedoms."

The 2011 Spotlight programme examined allegations that the independence of the office of the Police Ombudsman had been compromised and that it was not investigating complaints about police misconduct, including allegations of collusion, with sufficient rigour.

Ombudsman Al Hutchinson rejected claims his investigations lacked independence. He resigned in January 2012.

Commenting on the claims of police surveillance against him, Mr Kearney said: "I am concerned that the police may have attempted to identify sources of information within a programme that was actually about the independence of the office of the Police Ombudsman.

"Journalists must be free to carry out their work without fear that the police may secretly try to identify sources and I am determined to find out what happened."

Last month, the PSNI delivered a report on surveillance of journalists and lawyers to its oversight body, the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

However, the document on surveillance practices will not be made public.

The board's human rights adviser will be granted access to material the report is based on, and PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has committed to the production of a second report, which will be made public.