Claims PSNI spied on journalists ‘undermining confidence in policing’

Journalists Barry McCaffrey, left, and Trevor Birney, right. Picture: Victoria Jones/PA

Claims made during a tribunal hearing that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) carried out surveillance of the phone data of journalists is “undermining confidence in policing”, two human rights organisations have said.

Amnesty International and the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) have written to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, the oversight body of the PSNI, making a fresh call for an inquiry into the claims.