A former detective tasked with examining the confidential sources of two journalists who revealed collusion between Northern Irish police and paramilitary groups has reported their solicitors to the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
Darren Ellis, a former detective with Durham Constabulary, provided testimony at a tribunal addressing allegations that police unlawfully monitored the two journalists using electronic surveillance. He described the conduct of the journalists’ solicitors as “aggressive.” This pivotal case will assess whether current legal protections for confidential journalistic sources are adequate and effectively enforced.
Ellis was giving evidence to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which is considering claims that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and other law enforcement agencies spied on journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney after they created a film highlighting police collusion in paramilitary murders in Loughinisland, County Down.
During questioning by Ben Jaffey KC, Ellis denied attempting to persuade the Northern Ireland Law Society to take action against Trevor Birney’s solicitors, KRW. He clarified that he merely expressed concerns rather than soliciting any intervention. “I highlighted concerns; I was not asking anyone to take action,” he stated.
Ellis expressed dissatisfaction with the law society’s position, which stated it would only investigate if a regulatory member had been convicted of a crime. “Was I disappointed? Yes, I was,” he remarked. When tribunal member Stephen Shaw KC inquired whether he had labeled law society representatives as “unsympathetic” and “defensive,” Ellis confirmed he had. He explained that his focus was on leaked documents rather than the lawyers themselves, emphasizing, “I believed I had done the right thing by informing the appropriate parties of my concerns.”
Criminal activity
In August 2018, Durham police and the PSNI arrested Birney and McCaffrey, executing searches of their homes and their film company’s offices, seizing phones, computers, and duplicating the company’s server. Ellis revealed that he requested directed surveillance to monitor a “third party” at the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland (PONI) whom he suspected of leaking documents to the journalists. The intention was to determine if the journalists met with the suspected official after their release.
The surveillance application aimed to capture any conversations between the journalists and the PONI official, intervening if documents were exchanged. However, Ellis denied that his goal was to apprehend Birney and McCaffrey to probe their sources. He characterized the suspect simply as someone potentially involved in criminal activity, stating, “This was a significant event… if that third party was going to deviate from their usual actions, that was the day it would happen.”
Misleading and sensationalist
The tribunal learned that Ellis had documented in his policy book that the film “No Stone Unturned” contained misleading information and labeled it as a pseudo-journalistic murder investigation. He reiterated that his primary concern was the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information in the film. “Investigative journalism has a role in society… all I asked was for people to adhere to the law,” he asserted. Under cross-examination, he admitted he couldn’t confirm whether any misleading content existed in the film, explaining, “My responsibility was to locate and recover classified documents. I apologize if I seem defensive.”
Ellis clarified, “I don’t want the tribunal to perceive this as a top-heavy PSNI investigation. It was not,” and he dismissed claims that the focus of the police was to mitigate embarrassment for authorities. “My role is to ethically and proportionately search for the truth. I hadn’t even set foot in Northern Ireland before this; I never wanted to do it,” he declared.
Detective “let down” by Durham police
Ellis expressed that Durham police’s lack of legal guidance made him feel “let down” by law enforcement, describing feelings of isolation and confusion: “I felt alone, bewildered, and didn’t have anyone to turn to.” He characterized himself as a “passionate guy” committed to uncovering the truth.
The case is being pursued by Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey against the PSNI, Durham Constabulary, GCHQ, and MI5. After their 2018 arrests, the journalists were exonerated in 2019 by the former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Declan Morgan, who found that the PSNI and Durham Constabulary had unlawfully used search warrants to identify the journalists’ sources.
This case raises broader concerns about the extent to which police and intelligence agencies monitor journalists’ communications, even after the introduction of stronger legal protections since 2016. Outside the courtroom, McCaffrey remarked that he had been waiting five years for the hearing, emphasizing, “We hope that what has happened to us—and to hundreds of other journalists—will finally be acknowledged. This case is not just about Trevor and me, but about those countless journalists who were subjected to systematic surveillance by the PSNI, Metropolitan Police, Durham police, and MI5.”
The proceedings are ongoing.