Officers could be disciplined over raid on journalist's home

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde has been called on to discipline eight police officers who carried out raids on the home of Sunday Times journalist Liam Clarke, it emerged today.

The Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan in a report to Mr Orde also criticised the search of the newspaper’s Belfast office as part of the same operation.

A Police Ombudsman spokesman said: “We carried out an investigation into these matters and have recommended disciplinary action against several officers.”

A detective chief superintendent is among those to whom complaints were made. The report described the operation as “poorly led and unprofessional”.

The Ombudsman has recommended that an officer of assistant chief constable rank or over should take charge of future operations of this nature.

The raids were carried out under the Official Secrets Act in response to material in the book about the Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness, written by Clarke, the paper’s Northern Ireland editor, and his wife Kathryn Johnston.

The Ombudsman found that the officers breached basic legal procedures giving protection to journalists from state harassment.

She also found that the officers illegally restricted the movements of Clarke and Johnston during the searches and they were not permitted to make arrangements for the care of their eight-year-old daughter.

Several sacks of journalistic material were seized during the raids and the pair were arrested and questioned for more than 20 hours.

In response to their complaints Mrs O’Loan said: “I have recommended disciplinary action in respect of 32 separate failings by individual officers involved in the search of your house and your arrest and detention.”

Clarke said he was grateful to the Ombudsman for a thorough and professional report, adding he hoped the guidelines set out for the Police Service of Northern Ireland would be accepted by other forces.