Cleveland Police breached journalists' human rights

A police force which used anti-terrorism legislation to spy on two journalists breached their human rights, a tribunal has ruled.

Cleveland Police gathered call data from the mobile phone used by the Press Association's Tom Wilkinson in 2013.

It also used the legislation to trace the mobile phone number of his photographer colleague Owen Humphreys.

Cleveland Police said it accepted the tribunal's finding that the move was "neither necessary nor proportionate".

Officers mistakenly believed Mr Wilkinson may have been the source of a leak about the resignation of Assistant Chief Officer Ann Hall.

Ms Hall had been suspended on suspicion of gross misconduct and had been due to face disciplinary proceedings.

As a result of her resignation the proceedings never took place.

Spied on

The first report of her resignation was published by the Northern Echo in July 2013 and was written by Graeme Hetherington, whose phone was also spied on as part of the investigation.

Mr Wilkinson and Mr Humphreys were not informed of what had happened until April 2017.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), sitting in London, ruled the authorisations obtained under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) were unlawful and ordered they be quashed.

It further found the use of the powers breached both Mr Wilkinson and Mr Humphreys' human rights and ordered all data obtained on the two men be destroyed.

'Delighted'

The Press Association's editor-in-chief, Peter Clifton, said: "I'm delighted the tribunal has found that the force's actions were unlawful, and neither necessary nor proportionate."

Cleveland Police at no point interviewed the men or contacted them directly about the source of the leak.

In August last year, the force paid £3,000 compensation to two of its own officers whose phones were illegally monitored while investigating leaks to the media.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, formerly the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is also looking into the force's use of Ripa.

Cleveland Police said it had already apologised to the journalists, provided details of what had been found and "conceded that the authorisations were indeed neither necessary nor proportionate".

A spokeswoman added: "In order to understand and learn from these cases the police and crime commissioner and the then Chief Constable commissioned a review of applications by the Professional Standards Department over a six-year period."