PSNI Chief Constable apologises to two solicitors following surveillance

By Rebecca Black and Nicole McBride, PA

Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable has apologised to two solicitors after it emerged they were subjected to unlawful surveillance.

Darragh Mackin and Peter Corrigan of Belfast legal firm Phoenix Law said the next step will be to meet Jon Boutcher to press for “accountability”.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief commissioned The McCullough Review into police surveillance practices between 2011 and 2024.

The report, published on Wednesday, found that police in Northern Ireland unlawfully used covert powers to attempt to uncover eight journalists’ sources.

It also found two instances of directed surveillance against an unnamed lawyer, including in a court building, without proper authorisation.

Mr Mackin and Mr Corrigan said the case that the report references was their representation of Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton, who were convicted of the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll on March 9th, 2009, during an appeal.

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, the two solicitors said they had received a personal apology from PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher for the police actions.

They said that privacy is not a price they should have had to pay for doing their jobs.

“For years, we have advocated for our clients without fear or favour. We take great pride in having represented people from all walks of life, from all sides of the community,” they said.

“Each of our clients are entitled to the very basic protections under the rule of law, which includes the principle of legal professional privilege.

“Today confirms that those who are tasked with administering the law have broken the law. In doing so, they have had zero regard for our clients’ rights, driven by the sole motivation of a ‘win at whatever cost’ approach.”

They said while they “were never naive enough” to rule out the possibility of surveillance, they believed that there would be “boundaries within those battles”.

“For us, however, it is an uncomfortable reality that our families and their respective privacy was an expendable chip in the Orwellian dystopia,” they said.

“Privacy is not the price we should pay for simply doing our job.

“Techniques like this, we can all agree, ought to be alien to a modern democracy and instead are more akin to a home in Russia or North Korea.”