Loughinisland: Chief constable apologises for journalist searches

Trevor Birney (left) and Barry McCaffrey (right) worked on documentary film No Stone Unturned

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has apologised to two investigative journalists whose homes and business premises were searched by police in August 2018.

Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey had been working on a film about the Loughinisland killings in 1994.

They were arrested over the suspected theft of files from the Police Ombudsman's Office.

Mr Byrne said he accepted the search warrants had been "unlawful".

This followed a ruling by Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan on Friday.

Sir Declan said: "We see no overriding requirement in the public interest which could have justified an interference with the protection of journalistic sources in this case."

In his letter to the journalists, who had been involved in the documentary film No Stone Unturned, the chief constable said he offered an "unreserved apology for the distress and upset caused to them and their families".

The film focused on how the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) handled the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) murders of six Catholic men at a pub in Loughinisland.

Mr McCaffrey welcomed the apology, but said it was long overdue.

"It's 685 days since we were arrested," he told BBC News NI's Talkback programme on Thursday.

"If I made a mistake today, I will apologise today, I don't think I will wait two and a half years.

"Having said that, the chief constable says they are going to look at the lessons that need to be learned; we think it's obvious the lessons that need to be learned.

"This was bad policing, this should never have happened, this was an attack on press freedom."

The attack in Loughinisland took place in June 1994 at the Heights Bar

In 2018, Durham Police were the lead investigators brought in by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to examine the case against the journalists.

Simon Byrne, who succeeded Sir George Hamilton as PSNI chief constable in July 2019, said the searches were planned and directed "at the direction of officers from Durham Constabulary", but he accepted those officers "were acting on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in an external capacity".

Mr Byrne said he was "keen to resolve all the outstanding matters through a process of mediation".

'Sincere apology'

Mr Birney told Talkback he believed the chief constable's apology was sincere.

"We need assurances that this won't happen again and that no other journalists or their families should be put through what we've gone through in the last couple of years," he said.

"There has been a shadow that's been cast across myself and Barry, our careers, our family life, our personal life, our professional lives as a result of the actions that were unlawful back in August 2018."

In June 2019, the chief constable of Durham Police, Mike Barton, declined to apologise to the journalists after the investigation against them was dropped.

• Police drop case against two journalists

• PSNI 'made huge error' in journalist raids

The items collected during the searches included laptops, hard drives, mobile phones, notepads and millions of digital files.

The case prompted a campaign by the National Union of Journalists in support of Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey.