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Police may have 'violated' standards after obtaining phone data

PA Media Darragh Mackin and Peter Corrigan sitting behind a table. Darragh is on the left of the photo. He has short brown hair and is wearing a white shirt, blue tie and navy suit. He has his arms crossed. Peter is on the right of the photo and he is wearing a white shirt, navy tie and grey suit. PA Media
Police have previously issued an apology to Darragh Mackin and Peter Corrigan
Julian O'NeillCrime and justice correspondent, BBC News NI

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) may have "violated" international standards protecting lawyers when it obtained the phone data of two Northern Ireland solicitors, according to UN human rights experts.

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has previously issued an apology to Darragh Mackin and Peter Corrigan.

Last September, an independent report found that authorisations for their communications data in 2013 were made on a "questionable" and "materially flawed" basis.

Mackin said the PSNI's actions had been unlawful and linked them to appeal proceedings by two men jailed for the murder of police officer Stephen Carroll in Craigavon in 2009.

He has released correspondence with the UK Government and the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, and the UN special rapporteur on the right to privacy, Ana Brian Nougrères.

The correspondence raised "serious concerns".

It stated the PSNI's actions "may amount to a violation of international standards protecting the right of lawyers to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference".

The correspondence also added that the incident appears "to infringe upon the internationally recognised right to confidential communications between lawyers and their clients".

Mackin said the correspondence, sent in January, has gone unanswered and that legal action against the PSNI is being considered.

The UN special rapporteurs had sought further details about the authorisations, including what time periods were involved and what information had been collected.

They also wanted assurances about lawyers' rights.

'Welcome step'

Corrigan said their intervention was "a welcome step".

He continued: "The police are entrusted to uphold the law, but instead they have broken the law.

"Today's intervention makes clear that no longer will the international human rights community accept the misuse of power directed at lawyers, simply because of the cases they do, or the clients they represent.

"For too long the state has wrongly targeted lawyers in this jurisdiction for simply doing their job."

The PSNI has been approached for comment.