The PSNI had sought the support of the Met police as far back as 2011 to monitor journalists working for the BBC in Belfast, MPs on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee were told.Belfast journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, told the committee that there were suspicions that other police forces in the UK were also monitoring journalists phones.They were giving evidence after a tribunal ruled in December that the PSNI and the Metropolitan Police had unlawfully placed them under surveillance in an attempt to identify confidential sources.Evidence disclosed at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal last year, showed that during a four month period in 2011 over 4,000 phone calls and text messages were being monitored by the Met for the PSNI, Birney told the committee.Basically, a UK police force was spying on the state broadcaster, the BBC and its journalists and sharing that unlawful surveillance data with at least two other UK police forces, he added.Trevor Birney told the MPs that he believed the PSNIs practice of trying to uncover Police whistleblowers began when a former Met police chief took over as Chief Constable of the then Royal Ulster Constabulary, in 2002.Hugh Orde introduced a policy to stop leaks by making it an offence for police officers to talk to journalists without the agreement of senior officers.But what started as a defensive operation to crack down on Police officers leaking to the press, turned into an offensive operation that also monitored journalists to find out if police officers were among their confidential sources, he said.McCaffrey said that phone data showed that the Met police had monitored phone calls made by journalists to other journalists.That's not a defensive operation, that's an offensive operation. That's spying on journalists to identify their sources, he said. By 2011 the PSNI were breaking rules on an industrial scale, he claimed.The journalists claimed the PSNI had repeatedly sought to bypass regulations designed to protect the confidentiality of journalists and lawyers.In 2013, for example, Barry McCaffrey had called the PSNIs press office to ask if they were investigating an allegation of corruption.That was a simple question. Are you investigating an allegation of corruption? Within 40 hours, Barry McCaffrey was turned into a criminal suspect, Birney told the MPs.In December 2024, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) found that Trevor Birney and McCaffrey had themselves been placed under unlawful surveillance by two UK police forces, which spied on their phone communications and suspected confidential sources.The PSNI commissioned Angus McCullough KC in June last year to investigate allegations of unlawful surveillance of journalists, lawyers and other groups.Birney told the MPs, We don't believe that the review goes far enough. We think the remit is far too narrow. And we think that Angus McCullough, despite being a very experienced and knowledgeable KC doesn't have the tools to get to the bottom of what's going on here.Birney told the cross-party group of MPs that one of the problems of the review was that it had an arbitrary cut-off date of 2011.That isn't going to get to the bottom of where the spying operations emanated from, who ordered it, why and what would be the culture that led to the incidents that we've seen at the IPT (Investigatory Powers Tribunal).Another problem with the review, the committee heard, was that it didnt have the power to look at the role played by other state institutions in monitoring journalists.The IPT disclosed in October that former BBC journalist Vincent Kerney had been subject to surveillance at the same time as Barry McCaffrey in 2011.A barrister for MI5 and GCHQ told the IPT after a secret court hearing that MI5 would need a number of months to unearth documentation related to BBC journalism in Belfast and would need to hire security-cleared lawyer to do so.That indicated that there was an enormous amount of information that MI5 held on the BBC and its journalists, said Birney.The committee also heard that the Tory MP David Davis, had written to all police forces in the UK to ask if theyd been doing the same thing as the PSNI, but had been met with silence, suggesting that other forces may also be monitoring journalists.Live interception outside scopeThe MPs heard that the McCullough review is unable to investigate whether journalists were subject to live interception of their phone calls or text messages, leaving a black hole in the review.If journalists are being spied on on a daily basis or phone calls are being listened to on a daily basis, the McCullough review cant tell us that, said McCaffrey.He called on Jon Boutcher, the current chief constable of the PSNI to cooperate with the review, to ensure that McCullough gets access to every file and every record and that there is no obfuscation or delay.The MPs heard that it was Durham police, not the PSNI that made the most important disclosures to the IPT about surveillance on journalists, including extracts from PSNIs own files.Seamus Dooley, assistant general secretary of the NUJ, said that the PSNI had engaged in a form of judicial strip tease.Every day you walked in [to the IPT], there was a new little piece [of information] presented. I am an experienced journalist, editor and court reporter and I have never seen evidence presented in that sort of manner before, he said.McCaffrey said that it was extremely difficult to trust the PSNI to be fully open with the McCullough review. There had been an incredible amount of delay, obfuscation and denial by the PSNI, he said.McCaffrey said that trust in the PSNI was being further undermined by a whispering campaign which eight years later still continues.When we were first arrested, someone within the PSNI leadership was briefing that anybody who supported us, whether it was the Irish government or political parties or trade unions would be left with egg on their face, he said.This was the phrase that we kept on hearing again and again from different parties, different organisations, he said.The Belfast based journalists, told the committee that a public inquiry would be the only way to get to the bottom of what they say is a culture of contempt for journalists, lawyers, activists and institutions of state within the PSNI.Any public inquiry must be far broader in scope, and look not only at the PSNI but also the Met, because of their recent history of unlawful spying on BBC journalists, the MPs were told.Samus Dooley told the committee, that the surveillance of journalists was having a chilling effect on press freedom, as journalists werent able to assure their sources that they could protect them.Dooley told the committee that the PSNI appeared to think of journalists as the enemy, think that journalists are criminal, and that any activity which seeks to shine a light is automatically a crime.He said its the mindset, which is the problem here the word that kept coming back to me as I sat in the IPT was contempt, contempt for journalists, contempt for lawyers, contempt for due process.PSNI says it will cost millions to delete unlawfully collected phone dataThe Police Service of Northern Ireland has told journalists that it would cost over 5 million to delete data it obtained from unlawfully monitoring their phones a cross-party group of MPs heard today.Journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey told MPs on the Northern Ireland Affairs committee that the PSNI had unlawfully captured data from McCaffreys phone on multiple occasions.PSNI officers also unlawfully seized computer equipment and phones from the journalists homes and office.Birney and McCaffrey were unlawfully arrested in 2018 after they produced a documentary film, No Stone Unturned, exposing police collusion in the paramilitary murder of six innocent Catholics.The MPs were told that the arrests were part of a failed attempt to discredit the Police Ombudsman, by attempting to show that an employee had leaked a confidential report to the two journalists.Trevor Birney told the MPs that material about No Stone Unturned occupied only 0.6% of the film production companys server but the PSNI downloaded its entire contents, obtaining information on every investigation undertaken by the company.They were walking past desks taking notebooks relating to clerical abuse, saying that might be of interest, thank you very much, he said.Police also searched through Birneys daughters personal belongings, confiscating her pink iPhone.The journalists reached an agreement with the PSNI to put checks and balances in place to prevent the data being accessed.The PSNI has historic systems, said Birney. It cant be deleted because we understand it is stored on Microfiche, he added.Its not acceptable that we have been told to wait ten years [for our data to be destroyed],he said. This is a major issue for GDPR and data protection.The incident raised concerns that other police forces in the UK might be in the same position as the PSNI in not being able to destroy unlawfully gathered data.Read more about Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birneys case against PSNIOver 40 journalists and lawyers submit evidence to PSNI surveillance inquiryConservative MP adds to calls for public inquiry over PSNI police spying.Tribunal 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.