Journalists and film company win £875k damages from police
Settlement: Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffery outside the High Court on Friday
David Young
November 27 2020
BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Police are facing a multimillion-pound bill after settling a case taken by two journalists arrested over material used in a Troubles documentary.
The PSNI agreed to pay £875,000 in damages to Trevor Birney, Barry McCaffrey and the company behind the film on the Loughinisland massacre.
The PSNI will also have to foot both sides’ legal costs for the lengthy and complex judicial review proceedings that have been running for more than two years — a bill understood to run well into seven figures.
That is on top of the hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on the botched arrest and search operation that prompted the journalists’ legal case.
The PSNI has also agreed to delete material it seized from Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey when officers raided their homes and offices in August 2018.
The settlement comes after a court ruled last year that the warrants used by police to search the journalists’ homes and Fine Point Films had been “inappropriate”. The criminal probe into the journalists was discontinued following that ruling.
It is understood the £875,000 in damages includes £600,000 to Fine Point Films, £150,000 to Mr Birney and £125,000 to Mr McCaffrey.
News that a settlement has been reached was announced during a brief hearing at Belfast High Court on Friday.
DUP Policing Board member Mervyn Storey said it raised major questions for the PSNI.
He added: “This was a seriously botched operation. When I was briefed about this case in the immediate aftermath of the gentlemen being released it was clear to me the police approach seemed seriously suspect. It had all the hallmarks of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”
Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney were arrested over the alleged theft of a police watchdog document that appeared in their film No Stone Unturned about the notorious loyalist massacre in Loughinisland, Co Down, during the Troubles.
Six men were shot dead while watching the Republic of Ireland play Italy in a World Cup match at the Heights Bar in June 1994.
The original police operation had been undertaken by Durham Constabulary at the request of the PSNI amid conflict of interest concerns.
In the summer, Chief Constable Simon Byrne issued an unreserved apology to the two journalists.
Reacting to the settlement, Mr Birney said: “Journalists in this jurisdiction now need to see Simon Byrne take all steps necessary to ensure accountability for the PSNI’s despicable attack on press freedom and to assure the press that lessons have been learned.”
Mr McCaffrey questioned why it had taken the PSNI so long to settle with them.
He added: “This whole thing has cost the State millions.
“Millions of pounds wasted for what? This could have been spent on Covid and people in hospitals, but somebody within the PSNI decided that public money, millions of pounds of public money, was going to be wasted. Who’s going to be held to account?”
A PSNI spokesman said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland is pleased that these matters have now been concluded.”
Our fear is that no one will be held to account
David Young
November 27 2020
BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Police are facing a multimillion-pound bill after settling a case taken by two journalists arrested over material used in a Troubles documentary.
The PSNI agreed to pay £875,000 in damages to Trevor Birney, Barry McCaffrey and the company behind the film on the Loughinisland massacre.
The PSNI will also have to foot both sides’ legal costs for the lengthy and complex judicial review proceedings that have been running for more than two years — a bill understood to run well into seven figures.
That is on top of the hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on the botched arrest and search operation that prompted the journalists’ legal case.
The PSNI has also agreed to delete material it seized from Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey when officers raided their homes and offices in August 2018.
The settlement comes after a court ruled last year that the warrants used by police to search the journalists’ homes and Fine Point Films had been “inappropriate”. The criminal probe into the journalists was discontinued following that ruling.
It is understood the £875,000 in damages includes £600,000 to Fine Point Films, £150,000 to Mr Birney and £125,000 to Mr McCaffrey.
News that a settlement has been reached was announced during a brief hearing at Belfast High Court on Friday.
DUP Policing Board member Mervyn Storey said it raised major questions for the PSNI.
He added: “This was a seriously botched operation. When I was briefed about this case in the immediate aftermath of the gentlemen being released it was clear to me the police approach seemed seriously suspect. It had all the hallmarks of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”
Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney were arrested over the alleged theft of a police watchdog document that appeared in their film No Stone Unturned about the notorious loyalist massacre in Loughinisland, Co Down, during the Troubles.
Six men were shot dead while watching the Republic of Ireland play Italy in a World Cup match at the Heights Bar in June 1994.
The original police operation had been undertaken by Durham Constabulary at the request of the PSNI amid conflict of interest concerns.
In the summer, Chief Constable Simon Byrne issued an unreserved apology to the two journalists.
Reacting to the settlement, Mr Birney said: “Journalists in this jurisdiction now need to see Simon Byrne take all steps necessary to ensure accountability for the PSNI’s despicable attack on press freedom and to assure the press that lessons have been learned.”
Mr McCaffrey questioned why it had taken the PSNI so long to settle with them.
He added: “This whole thing has cost the State millions.
“Millions of pounds wasted for what? This could have been spent on Covid and people in hospitals, but somebody within the PSNI decided that public money, millions of pounds of public money, was going to be wasted. Who’s going to be held to account?”
A PSNI spokesman said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland is pleased that these matters have now been concluded.”
Our fear is that no one will be held to account
Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey
Barry McCaffrey (left) and Trevor Birney standing outside Belfast High Court (PA)
November 27 2020
We weren’t the first local journalists to have our livelihoods threatened by police — but we must be the last.
The late Liam Clarke, Kathryn Johnston and Suzanne Breen each experienced what we have come through in the past two years.
Today, journalists in Belfast are still being threatened by paramilitaries. The PSNI have done little to investigate one threat to rape the child of a female journalist.
Almost 20 years after the journalist Martin O’Hagan was murdered by loyalists, his killers have yet to face justice.
Yet the threat against us emanated from the PSNI itself.
They raided our homes and offices and arrested us in front of our families and our neighbours in an operation designed to send a chill factor through local journalism, to send the message: “investigate legacy issues and this is what can happen to you.”
It is a huge relief for ourselves and our families that this nightmare has now finally been ended.
It has ended only because we launched a Judicial Review from the cells we were held in on August 31, 2018. We took the decision to stand up to the police, to force them to defend their egregious attack on our journalism, our company and our families.
We fought this case to protect press freedom and the right for journalists to be allowed to do their jobs, free from state persecution and threat.
However, it is deeply disturbing that we have had to literally drag police kicking and screaming through endless court hearings.
At every turn police have attempted to block and frustrate any early resolution to this case.
What we have endured in the past couple of years has given us an insight into the trauma that has been inflicted on victims of the Troubles who have had to resort to the courts to seek truth but are frustrated by tactics deployed by the State to ensure a resolution is delayed and the answers they seek held beyond their reach. We salute those families for their integrity and determination.
We are humbled by the support and friendship of the Loughinisland victims who themselves have had shown incredible tenacity in their own search for the truth. They are simply inspiring.
Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was wasted on our arrests and the PSNI’s utterly futile legal challenge to defend their unlawful actions.
But who in the PSNI is going to be held to account for our unlawful arrests? Who thought it appropriate to arrest two journalists simply for doing their job? While grossly insulting the Loughinisland families by not going after those who murdered their loved ones, despite the “treasure trove” of evidence that is still available today.
We fear that no one will be held to account. It seems to be the way we do business in this part of the world.
Amnesty International’s Patrick Corrigan has called on the Northern Ireland Police Board to examine our case, to ensure that no other journalist is unlawfully arrested.
We fully support that call.
Belfast Telegraph
November 27 2020
We weren’t the first local journalists to have our livelihoods threatened by police — but we must be the last.
The late Liam Clarke, Kathryn Johnston and Suzanne Breen each experienced what we have come through in the past two years.
Today, journalists in Belfast are still being threatened by paramilitaries. The PSNI have done little to investigate one threat to rape the child of a female journalist.
Almost 20 years after the journalist Martin O’Hagan was murdered by loyalists, his killers have yet to face justice.
Yet the threat against us emanated from the PSNI itself.
They raided our homes and offices and arrested us in front of our families and our neighbours in an operation designed to send a chill factor through local journalism, to send the message: “investigate legacy issues and this is what can happen to you.”
It is a huge relief for ourselves and our families that this nightmare has now finally been ended.
It has ended only because we launched a Judicial Review from the cells we were held in on August 31, 2018. We took the decision to stand up to the police, to force them to defend their egregious attack on our journalism, our company and our families.
We fought this case to protect press freedom and the right for journalists to be allowed to do their jobs, free from state persecution and threat.
However, it is deeply disturbing that we have had to literally drag police kicking and screaming through endless court hearings.
At every turn police have attempted to block and frustrate any early resolution to this case.
What we have endured in the past couple of years has given us an insight into the trauma that has been inflicted on victims of the Troubles who have had to resort to the courts to seek truth but are frustrated by tactics deployed by the State to ensure a resolution is delayed and the answers they seek held beyond their reach. We salute those families for their integrity and determination.
We are humbled by the support and friendship of the Loughinisland victims who themselves have had shown incredible tenacity in their own search for the truth. They are simply inspiring.
Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was wasted on our arrests and the PSNI’s utterly futile legal challenge to defend their unlawful actions.
But who in the PSNI is going to be held to account for our unlawful arrests? Who thought it appropriate to arrest two journalists simply for doing their job? While grossly insulting the Loughinisland families by not going after those who murdered their loved ones, despite the “treasure trove” of evidence that is still available today.
We fear that no one will be held to account. It seems to be the way we do business in this part of the world.
Amnesty International’s Patrick Corrigan has called on the Northern Ireland Police Board to examine our case, to ensure that no other journalist is unlawfully arrested.
We fully support that call.
Belfast Telegraph
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