Northern Ireland: Call for public inquiry into unlawful surveillance of journalists

Amnesty International is calling for a public inquiry into covert surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland following damning disclosures at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal today, revealing the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and MI5 unlawfully obtained communications data of journalist Vincent Kearney.

Disclosures at the tribunal have revealed that the PSNI, the Met and MI5 illegally tracked the telephone data of Mr Kearney, formerly the BBC NI Home Affairs correspondent, to uncover his sources on multiple occasions over a period of eight years up to 2014, and continued to share and retain the data in the years since. The disclosures raise profound concerns about systemic abuse of surveillance powers. The police and MI5 have conceded that their actions amount to a breach of Mr Kearney’s human rights under Articles 8 and 10 of the Human Rights Act.

The tribunal heard that the PSNI created a dossier on Mr Kearney which included personal details on him, including addresses, telephone numbers and vehicle registrations, and his wife, mother-in-law and other family members.

Mr Kearney’s witness statement says that the unlawful surveillance has had a “measurable chilling effect” on his and former BBC colleagues’ ability to carry out public interest journalism in Northern Ireland, with source relationships damaged and, in some cases, destroyed.

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Director of Amnesty International UK, said:

“Today’s findings expose a pattern of unlawful surveillance that strikes at the heart of press freedom. Our courts have, once again, laid bare a deeply troubling pattern: covert and unlawful surveillance of journalists, coupled with a reckless disregard for press freedom by both police forces and the security service.

“The tribunal has revealed one of the most sustained campaigns of unlawful state surveillance against a journalist in the UK yet documented. But this is not just about one reporter. Today’s findings point to a pattern of institutional overreach where authoritiesunlawfully and regularly accessed journalists’ communications data in pursuit of their sources.

“No press can remain truly free while secretly monitored by the very power it is meant to hold accountable. That is why we are asking the Secretary of State to set up a public inquiry. Only a full independent public inquiry with the power to compel evidence can restore trust, deliver accountability and safeguard press freedom in Northern Ireland.

“We are also calling on Hilary Benn to establish a Commissioner for Covert Law Enforcement in Northern Ireland to ensure covert surveillance techniques are only used within the law. This was proposed by the Patten Commission into policing reform, but was never implemented by then-Secretary of State Peter Mandelson. We are now seeing the consequences of that failure.”

The McCullough Review into police surveillance in Northern Ireland, published in September2025, had already identified multiple cases of covert surveillance by the PSNI against journalists and lawyers, including, in the view of author Angus McCullough KC, unlawful actions by the police in breach of the Human Rights Act.

The McCullough Review did not cover cases currently before the IPT or the covert surveillance activities of other police forces or MI5 in Northern Ireland.

ENDS

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