Over 40 journalists and lawyers have submitted evidence to an independent review into allegations that the Police Service of Northern Ireland unlawfully spied on journalists and members of the legal profession.The review, commissioned by the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland Jon Boutcher, is inquiring into allegations that the PSNI collected the phone data of lawyers, journalists and NGOs, breaching journalists confidential sources and legal privilege between lawyers and clients.The inquiry follows disclosures by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that the PSNI and the Metropolitan Police had unlawfully carried out surveillance operations against journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney. It comes as MPs in the Northern Ireland Affairs select committee are preparing to take evidence next week from the two journalists as part of a one-day hearing into press freedom in Northern Ireland.Angus McCullough KC, who is leading the review into allegations of PSNI surveillance over 14 years between January 2011 and December 2024, disclosed in a progress report today that 50 individuals and two organisations have submitted evidence to the review. Some 80% of the responses came from journalists and lawyers. A small number, representing 5%, raised issues that fell outside McCulloughs terms of reference.There was a presumption, he wrote in a progress report, that individuals who were subject to improper or unlawful surveillance would be informed subject to legal constraints.McCullough, assisted by Matthew Hill, who took part in the Post Office Horizon inquiry, and Rajkiran Arhestey, said he was confident that the review team had been given unrestricted and unsupervised access to PSNI documents and computer systems.According to the progress report, investigators said they were keen to understand what scope there may be for police officers to bypass the proper statutory processes and whether there was a likelihood of off the books surveillance.McCullough said that surveillance need not be targeted directly against journalists or lawyers for it to have a tendency to reveal legally privileged or journalistic material, including journalistic sources.The review team has been able to use information in submitted evidence to identify keywords or specific names and contact details to conduct searches of PSNI computer systems to identify cases of surveillance.We have also taken steps to ensure, so far as it is possible, that the PSNI are not able to see what we have been searching for, the report states, in order to guarantee the anonymity of people who have submitted evidence to the review.Searches of the PSNI systems were considerably more time consuming than predicted. Legislation on surveillance and the PSNIs systems and processes, and repositories for storing data had changed considerably over 14 years.McCullough said that he rejected proposals to expand the review to assess the PSNIs monitoring of its own police officers and staff, and could not consider surveillance by MI5, the British Military, or other police forces.The Investigatory Powers Tribunal found in December 2025 that a former chief constable of the PSNI, George Hamilton, acted unlawfully by signing off on a directed surveillance operation to identify the suspected source of the two Northern Ireland journalists.Birney and McCaffrey were unlawfully arrested and their property seized after they produced a film exposing police collusion with a paramilitary group that killed 6 innocent people in Loughinisland, County Down, in 1994.Court received 60 complaints on PSNI in 3 yearsThe Police Service of Northern Ireland has been referred in complaints UKs surveillance court, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) nearly 60 times between 2022 and 2024.The tribunal has ordered the PSNI to disclose internal documents 28 times, and has made 4 adjudications in cases involving the PSNI over the same period, according to figures disclosed by the Northern Ireland Policing Board.Chief constable, Jon Boucher, admitted in a report published during the course of the legal proceedings that it had placed over 500 lawyers and 300 journalists under surveillance. Those targeted included more than a dozen journalists working for the BBC.The IPT is considering a claim that the PSNI unlawfully spied against former BBC journalist, Vincent Kearney, during his work on a 2011 Spotlight documentary investigating the independence of the police watchdog in Northern Ireland.Campaigners have claimed the McCullough review does not go far enough and have called for the government to set up a public inquiry into police surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.Computer Weekly has submitted evidence to the McCullough review.Read more about Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birneys case against PSNIConservative MP adds to calls for public inquiry over PSNI police spyingTribunal criticises PSNI and Met Police for spying operation to identify journalists sources.Detective wrongly claimed journalists solicitor attempted to buy gun, surveillance tribunal hears.Ex-PSNI officer deeply angered by comments made by a former detective at a tribunal investigating allegations of unlawful surveillance against journalists.Detective reported journalists lawyers to regulator in unlawful PSNI surveillance case.Lawyers and journalists seeking payback over police phone surveillance, claims former detective.We need a judge-led inquiry into police spying on journalists and lawyers.Former assistant chief constable, Alan McQuillan, claims the PSNI used a dedicated laptop to access the phone communications data of hundreds of lawyers and journalists.Northern Irish police used covert powers to monitor over 300 journalists.Police chief commissions independent review of surveillance against journalists and lawyers.Police accessed phone records of trouble-making journalists.BBC instructs lawyers over allegations of police surveillance of journalist.The Policing Board of Northern Ireland has asked the Police Service of Northern Ireland to produce a public report on its use of covert surveillance powers against journalists and lawyers after it gave utterly vague answers.PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher has agreed to provide a report on police surveillance of journalists and lawyers to Northern Irelands policing watchdog but denies industrial use of surveillance powers.Report reveals Northern Ireland police put up to 18 journalists and lawyers under surveillance.Three police forces took part in surveillance operations between 2011 and 2018 to identify sources that leaked information to journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal hears.Amnesty International and the Committee on the Administration of Justice have asked Northern Irelands policing watchdog to open an inquiry into the Police Service of Northern Irelands use of surveillance powers against journalists.Britains most secret court is to hear claims that UK authorities unlawfully targeted two journalists in a covert surveillance operation after they exposed the failure of police in Northern Ireland to investigate paramilitary killings.The Police Service of Northern Ireland is unable to delete terabytes of unlawfully seized data taken from journalists who exposed police failings in the investigation of the Loughinisland sectarian murders.The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has agreed to investigate complaints by Northern Ireland investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey that they were unlawfully placed under surveillance.