The PSNI spied on a senior official at the Police Ombudsman’s office in a bid to find the source of sensitive information about the loyalist murder of six innocent Catholic men in the Loughinisland massacre.
The damaging revelation that the PSNI spied on a senior official in the body which investigates PSNI actions is contained in a new book by award-wining investigative journalist Trevor Birney.
The former press officer at the watchdog was placed under 24-hour surveillance for two weeks in 2018 after the arrest of Mr Birney and his colleague Barry McCaffrey.
The ex-official worked closely with former ombudsman Michael Maguire.
In 2016 Mr Maguire published a damning report that exposed RUC collusion in the sectarian murder of six Catholic men by the UVF at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down, in June 1994.
The Irish News understands that at least one other former Police Ombudsman employee is believed to have been targeted by the PSNI during the same period.
‘Shooting Crows, Mass Murder, State Collusion and Press Freedom’, lifts the lid on police collusion with loyalists and attempts by state agencies to target journalists, including Mr Birney.
Mr Birney and his colleague Barry McCaffrey have recently taken part in a Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) which examined allegations that they were subjected to unlawful surveillance by the PSNI.
The London based tribunal looks at complaints from people who believe they have been the victim of unlawful covert interference.
The pair made a complaint to the IPT in 2019 over their arrest the previous year in connection with an acclaimed 2017 documentary, No Stone Unturned, about the UVF atrocity at Loughinisland.
Both men and the company behind the documentary were later awarded £875,000 in damages after the High Court ruled that warrants secured by police to raid their homes and business offices in the city were wrongly obtained.
During the recent tribunal oral evidence was heard from retired Durham Constabulary officer Darren Ellis.
He was the senior investigating officer with a Durham Police probe, Operation Yurta, into the alleged theft of confidential documents used in the film about the Loughinisland atrocity.
Mr Birney highlights that material disclosed by Durham Constabulary as part of the IPT process shows that Mr Ellis and his team had “gone after” communications data belonging to the respected journalists prior to their arrest.
“We could also now see in black and white how Ellis had concluded that a press officer at the ombudsman’s office had been the source of the leaks to us,” Mr Birney writes.
“His application for our data was turned down by the PSNI, so he opted to go after the OPONI press officer and, this time, the PSNI chief constable, George Hamilton, agreed.
“When we were arrested, the ombudsman’s chief press officer was put under twenty-four-hour surveillance for two weeks.”
Mr Birney said that Mr Ellis “sought and was granted a Directed Surveillance Authorisation (DSA), seemingly having come to the conclusion that after we were released from Musgrave Street PSNI Station, we would go straight to see the press officer and he would hand over more documents.
Mr Birney dismisses the PSNI theory as “laughable”.
“Ellis clearly had no understanding of how leaks occur; furthermore, in my experience, the last person in the world who would decide to leak secret documents is a press officer,” he wrote.
A spokeswoman for the Police Ombudsman said: “We are aware that the new book documents the surveillance of a member of the Police Ombudsman’s staff.
“However, given these issues are being considered by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal which has not yet reported, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland would encourage anyone with a specific complaint in relation to the use of surveillance or covert powers to engage with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
“The Police Service of Northern Ireland is co-operating with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) who independently oversee the use of investigatory powers in the United Kingdom, ensuring they are used in accordance with the law and in the public interest.”
‘Shooting Crows, Mass Murder, State Collusion and Press Freedom’, is published by Merrion Press.
