National Union of Journalists rejects ex-police officer's claims Labour MP accepted money from the union

A RETIRED police officer who led a probe into the suspected theft of Police Ombudsman documents claimed that a Labour MP took money from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and had an "improper relationship" with the union, a tribunal heard today.

Darren Ellis, a retired officer with Durham Constabulary, made the allegation, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London heard.

However, in a public session today a lawyer representing the NUJ told the court it strongly rejected the allegation and no personal payment had ever been made to MP Grahame Morris.

The IPT, which looks at complaints against the UK’s intelligence services, is investigating if three police forces - the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland), Durham Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police - subjected Trevor Birney, editor of The Detail, and former senior journalist Barry 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 and the PSNI 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 a public session today, the court heard that Mr Ellis had alleged that Mr Morris had taken payment from the NUJ - an allegation the union strongly denied.

Brenda Campbell KC, representing the NUJ, said Mr Ellis had made allegations of “improper payment and an improper relationship” between Mr Morris and the NUJ.

Earlier this week, the tribunal heard that after a photograph showing Mr Morris with Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey was posted on social media site X (formerly Twitter) in December 2018, Mr Ellis called Mr Morris’s constituency office.

The tribunal heard that, in the call, he described the journalists as “terrorists” and “criminals and thieves” to one of Mr Morris’s staff members.

Mr Ellis has insisted he did not make those claims.

Ms Campbell told today’s hearing that Mr Morris is co-chair of an NUJ cross-party parliamentary group.

She said the responsibility of any chair is to register any benefit in kind and that Mr Morris had declared to the MPs' register of interests money the NUJ had donated to the group to cover its administrative costs.

“There is no question of any payment having in fact taken place, apart from benefit in kind for administrative support, and there’s certainly no question of any payment… (to) Mr Morris’s personal bank account,” Ms Campbell said.

The tribunal received an affidavit from NUJ general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, which refuted the claims.

In a statement released this evening, the NUJ said: "The allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Mr Morris and the NUJ, only came to light on Wednesday morning in a late disclosure document revealed at the commencement of the second day of the hearing".

"Ms Stanistreet’s affidavit, together with publicly available parliamentary records, make clear that the allegations are completely ill-founded."

Last day of hearing

During final submissions to the tribunal today, Ben Jaffey KC, who is leading the case for the two journalists, said the tribunal had “not heard any opposition” to the submissions he had made about the “quality and public importance of the journalism in this case” including No Stone Unturned and Mr McCaffrey’s other reporting of potential police corruption.

He said that none of the forces - the PSNI, Durham Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police - “were willing to offer any support whatsoever… for the propriety of Mr Ellis’s conduct”.

“None were able to say that he acted without animus,” he said.

The PSNI has accepted liability for Mr Ellis’s conduct during his investigation into the suspected theft of documents.

Mr Jaffey questioned why the force had said it had “no view” on Mr Ellis’s state of mind, even though it had accepted that the former officer’s claim that solicitor Niall Murphy had tried to buy a gun had “no factual basis”.

“It shows Mr Ellis’s willingness once again to throw out very serious allegations of the utmost severity,” he said.

He asked the tribunal to make a finding of “animus” by Mr Ellis and that “his evidence cannot be accepted as evidence of truth”.

‘Deeply angered’

Earlier this week, Mr Ellis claimed that a former senior PSNI officer had suggested there had been “perverse decision making” in court rulings because there was a “disproportionate representation” of Catholics in Northern Ireland’s legal profession.

The officer was not named in court but her identity was published in a newspaper.

Former Assistant Chief Constable Barbara Gray later released a statement saying she was “deeply angered” by Mr Ellis’s claim and was now taking legal advice.

"To clarify, and for the avoidance of any doubt, I have the utmost respect for the judiciary and the wider legal profession in Northern Ireland and have done so throughout my 35 year career,” she said.

Mr Jaffey reiterated his previous comments that Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey do not accept Mr Ellis’s evidence about Ms Gray is true.

He said the evidence was “quite likely to be a fabrication”.

During his final submission in public, Mr Jaffey said the tribunal should rule there had been a breach and also award limited damages.

He said after the tribunal makes its judgement, “parties could consider whether anyone wants to make an application for costs, not least because the judgement of the tribunal may well affect that”.

Submissions from police

The tribunal heard closing submissions from lawyers representing the Metropolitan Police (Met) and Durham Constabulary.

James Berry KC, representing the Met, outlined that the force had authorised a request to obtain Mr McCaffrey’s phone data in 2012 after the then Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson made a criminal complaint to the PSNI, alleging that some of his staff had leaked confidential documents to journalists.

Mr Berry said that by following the regime of the time, the Met had “inadvertently” breached two of Mr McCaffrey’s rights under the Human Rights Act - respect for private and family life, and freedom of expression.

Aaron Rathmell KC, representing Durham Constabulary, said that Mr Ellis was under the direction and control of the PSNI during his investigation into the suspected theft of documents and that Durham was not liable for his conduct.

He said that any applications for the journalists’ communication data during the investigation “were advanced by PSNI officers”.

Mr Rathmell said a directed surveillance request in August 2018 was made by a PSNI officer and authorised by the then PSNI Chief Constable.

And he said although a request to freeze Mr Birney’s iCloud account was made by Mr Ellis, it was sent by a PSNI detective sergeant.

Both lawyers said neither police force should have to pay any damages to the journalists.

The tribunal is expected to deliver its findings before Christmas.