Ex-police officer who led probe into alleged theft of Police Ombudsman documents rejects claims he called journalists 'criminals and thieves'

A RETIRED Durham Constabulary officer who led a probe into the alleged theft of sensitive Police Ombudsman documents has rejected claims he described two journalists as “criminals and thieves”.

During an extraordinary hearing of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London today, former officer Darren Ellis was quizzed about an investigation he led into the suspected theft of the documents.

The tribunal heard that during a phone call to the office of a Labour MP, Grahame Morris, in 2018, Mr Ellis described journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey as “criminals and thieves”.

However, Mr Ellis rejected this and said: “There were no allegations made”.

The IPT heard Mr Ellis had contacted Durham Constabulary and asked that they lodge allegations that he made the comment as a crime.

However, the constabulary did not do so.

The IPT is investigating if police subjected Mr Birney, editor of The Detail, and former senior journalist Mr McCaffrey to unlawful surveillance in an attempt to uncover their sources.

The journalists made a complaint to the IPT after they were wrongly arrested in 2018 by officers from Durham Constabulary and the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) over their documentary No Stone Unturned into the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killing of six men in Loughinisland, Co Down, in June 1994.

The PSNI later apologised to the journalists for their arrests and paid substantial damages.

During public sessions in today’s hearing, the tribunal heard that Mr Ellis:

• wrote an email to the IPT in July this year, alleging that the journalists and their legal teams “operate in a community when (sic) no-one ever holds them to account”
• emailed a senior PSNI officer, criticising then Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan and a 2019 court ruling which quashed warrants used to raid the journalists’ homes and Mr Birney’s office
• was then told by the senior officer that the email was “totally unacceptable” and “totally inappropriate”
• claimed that a former senior PSNI officer had raised concerns about “perverse decision making” in court rulings because there was “disproportionate representation” of Catholics in Northern Ireland’s legal profession
• repeatedly refuted suggestions that his investigation had not been objective

In an email disclosed to the tribunal, Mr Ellis wrote: “The senior (PSNI) officer informed me of the tensions within the legal system (in Northern Ireland) and advised me to ‘exercise caution’ when dealing with solicitors, barristers and members of the judiciary given the disproportionate representation of those from a Roman Catholic background."

“She explained to me that people from that community who wished to pursue a career in law were, more often than not, uncomfortable in joining the police as a chosen career."

Mr Ellis said he was passing on an opinion, adding: “I don’t share that view”.

However, Ben Jaffey KC, who is leading the case for the journalists, told the court that it was “unlikely” the senior officer had raised such concerns given they were the same person who had informed Mr Ellis that comments he made about the 2019 court ruling were “totally unacceptable”.

Mr Jaffey said the claims tell “us more about Mr Ellis’s views than the senior PSNI officer”.

The hearing heard that in the email to the senior PSNI officer, Mr Ellis described the 2019 court ruling which quashed warrants used to raid the journalists’ homes and Mr Birney’s office as “preposterous” and criticised then Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan.

“This is another quite stunning direction by the LCJ,” the email read.

Mr Ellis said it was “clumsy use of wording” and had been written in the context of a briefing that he had been given on the case.

The hearing heard that the senior PSNI officer replied to the email, saying his communication was “totally unacceptable” and “totally inappropriate”.

The senior officer said the matter would be raised within the PSNI and with Mr Ellis’s own chief constable.

Mr Ellis said his chief constable did not raise the matter with him and “there was no investigation”.

“On reflection, I wouldn’t use those words today but I did at the time,” he said.

He added: “I refute any suggestion that this investigation lacked objectivity.”

However, in his summing up, Mr Jaffrey said Mr Ellis had suggested that judges had made “perverse decisions” because of their political beliefs and religious background, meaning they had violated their judicial oath.

He said the evidence of what “Mr Ellis had said and done” showed he had “sectarian” views which in England would simply be seen as “racism”.

Investigation

Stephen Toal KC, representing Mr Birney, asked Mr Ellis about a meeting he had had with the head of the Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers’ Association during his investigation into the suspected theft of documents.

Mr Ellis said he had met the head “very early” in his investigation.

“I was grateful for the conversation because it added to my knowledge,” he said.

When asked by Mr Toal if he was aware that the association had taken legal action against the Police Ombudsman’s Office after it found collusion in several Troubles-era cases, Mr Ellis said he was.

He strongly rejected Mr Toal’s suggestion that his investigation had not been impartial and that he had “lied at every opportunity”.

Mr Ellis said the suggestion was a “disgrace” and refused to answer any more questions from Mr Toal.

IPT email

The hearing heard that in an email he sent to the IPT in July this year, Mr Ellis alleged that Mr Birney, Mr McCaffrey “and their legal teams operate in a community when (sic) no-one ever holds them to account”.

“In a system that simply allows them to ride rough-shod over people who ‘dare’ challenge them…I consider it to be a strategy to frighten and softly intimidate and hence place a ring of steel around corrupt activity," he wrote.

Mr Ellis said he was “disappointed” that the email had been included in the IPT’s legal documents.

He said he had been “abandoned” by Durham Constabulary and had received no legal advice from them. Durham Constabulary has been contacted for comment.

Mr Jaffey told the court that Mr Ellis came to the investigation “with very strong and negative views about the applicants and strong and negative views about the documentary”.

He said Mr Ellis “protested too much” and was not just concerned with the suspected theft of secret documents.

“This is not normal policing behaviour,” he said.

He said Mr Ellis had made “intemperate” comments about a court and had made “an extraordinary rant” to the tribunal which included a wide-reaching series of allegations.

“Language of accusing lawyers of harassment and… accusing lawyers of engaging in sport or payback are serious matters,” he said.

Grahame Morris MP

Mr Ellis was asked about phone calls he made to the office of Labour MP Grahame Morris, whose Easington seat is in Co Durham.

He said he phoned Mr Ellis’s office twice after the MP was pictured in a photograph with Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey in December 2018, which was posted on social media site X (formerly Twitter).

The hearing heard that Mr Ellis had suggested to one of Mr Morris’s staff members that he had had his photo taken with “criminals and thieves”.

However, Mr Ellis rejected this and said: “There were no allegations made”.

When asked why he contacted Mr Morris’s office, Mr Ellis said he simply rang him to inform him of the existence of the photograph.

“I honestly didn’t think there was anything unusual in a senior officer of a constabulary speaking to an MP,” he said.

He said when Mr Morris did not return his call, he rang Mr Morris’s office a second time “for his benefit”.

PSNI

When contacted by The Detail, a PSNI spokesman said it was inappropriate for it to comment on claims made in today’s hearing.

“The Police Service of Northern Ireland is co-operating with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) who independently oversee the use of investigatory powers in the United Kingdom, ensuring they are used in accordance with the law and in the public interest," he said.

"Separately the Chief Constable has established the McCullough Review of the conduct of the Police Service of Northern Ireland arising from these and connected concerns.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment while legal proceedings and the McCullough Review are ongoing.”

The IPT hearing continues.