Police surveillance operation to unmask journalistic source ruled unlawful

Journalists Trevor Birney (left) and Barry McCaffrey. Picture: Lucy North/PA

A covert surveillance operation authorised by a Northern Ireland police chief in a bid to unmask a journalistic source was unlawful, a tribunal has ruled.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal quashed the decision made by former Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable George Hamilton, to approve the Directed Surveillance Authorisation (DSA) in an investigation into the leaking of a confidential document that appeared in a documentary on a Troubles massacre.