The British intelligence agency MI5 has admitted to unlawfully obtaining the communications data of former BBC journalist Vincent Kearney on two separate occasions, a revelation that has sent shockwaves through the media and civil liberties communities in Northern Ireland and beyond. The admission, described as “unprecedented” by legal counsel and observers alike, was made public ahead of a hearing at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London on September 15, 2025, and has raised urgent questions about press freedom, state surveillance, and the accountability of security services in the United Kingdom.
Vincent Kearney, now the northern editor at RTÉ News, served as the BBC Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent at the time of the intrusions, which occurred in 2006 and 2009. According to BBC News, MI5’s concession came in a letter to both the BBC and Kearney as part of ongoing legal proceedings at the IPT, the independent judicial body that investigates complaints about public bodies’ use of covert investigative techniques.
The case has its roots in broader allegations that investigative journalists in Northern Ireland have been subjected to unlawful surveillance by police and intelligence agencies. Kearney’s legal challenge arose after documents surfaced in the high-profile case of documentary makers Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, which suggested that several public bodies—including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and Durham Constabulary—had spied on Kearney as well. These revelations have ignited a broader debate about the protection of journalists and their sources in the UK.
During the IPT hearing, Jude Bunting KC, representing Kearney and the BBC, told the tribunal: “MI5 now confirms publicly that in 2006 and 2009 MI5 obtained communications data in relation to Vincent Kearney.” Bunting further stated that the security service “accepted” it had breached Kearney’s Article 8 and Article 10 rights under the European Convention of Human Rights, which guarantee the rights to privacy and freedom of expression, respectively. “This appears to be the first time in any tribunal proceedings in which MI5 publicly accepts interference with a journalist’s communications data, and also publicly accepts that they acted unlawfully in doing so,” Bunting added, calling the actions “serious and sustained illegality on the part of MI5.” (The Standard)
But MI5 was not the only agency implicated. The MPS admitted to obtaining Kearney’s communications data twice in 2012, storing it, and later providing some of it to Durham Constabulary in 2018. The PSNI, for its part, conceded illegality in obtaining, storing, and using Kearney’s data, with some authorisations linked to high-profile investigations, including the 2009 murder of Pc Stephen Carroll and Operation Erewhon in 2012, which probed alleged leaks within the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI). Durham Constabulary also admitted to seeking, obtaining, reviewing, and using material from the MPS on behalf of the PSNI.
Kearney’s own response to these revelations was one of deep concern, not only for himself but for the broader community of journalists. “This unprecedented admission by the British security service MI5 that it unlawfully obtained data about my mobile phone communications while I was conducting lawful journalism on behalf of the BBC is deeply concerning, not just for myself but for all journalists,” Kearney said after the hearing. He vowed to pursue further legal inquiries, with the support of the BBC’s legal team, to uncover the full extent of the surveillance and to determine whether MI5 or other agencies had engaged in similar actions on additional occasions. (BBC News)
The BBC itself echoed Kearney’s alarm. A spokesperson stated: “MI5’s admission that it illegally obtained communications data of a BBC journalist is a matter of grave concern. It raises serious and important questions that we will continue to pursue.”
Human rights organizations have also weighed in forcefully. Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, said: “The disclosure that MI5 has twice trampled human rights law by unlawfully prying into the phone records of a journalist in Northern Ireland is profoundly alarming. A journalist’s right to protect their sources is not a luxury, it is the bedrock of a free and fearless press. This is not just about one journalist, it is about the public’s right to know the truth.” Corrigan further warned, “The revelation that MI5 itself has been breaking the law to rifle through journalists’ communications should chill anyone who cares about freedom of the press in the UK. What is now urgently required is full transparency, genuine accountability and an end to this pattern of unlawful intrusion.”
The roots of the current scandal stretch back to a broader pattern of police and intelligence activity targeting journalists in Northern Ireland. The IPT has been examining claims that investigative reporters—including McCaffrey and Birney—were subjected to unlawful covert intelligence by the police. The pair were arrested in 2018 during an investigation into the alleged leaking of a confidential document that appeared in their film on the Troubles massacre, No Stone Unturned. In 2020, the High Court in Belfast ruled that warrants secured by police to raid their homes and business offices were wrongly obtained, and the IPT later established that a covert surveillance operation against them was unlawful.
Calls for accountability have grown louder in the wake of MI5’s admission. Trevor Birney, one of the journalists whose case helped bring the issue to light, called for a public inquiry, stating, “We welcome what MI5 have done here in finally coming clean, but this is only the tip of the iceberg, and the question now is how much of the iceberg are we actually going to see.” Sinn Féin assembly member Gerry Kelly insisted that MI5 must be held accountable, saying, “The government have to bring in an accountability mechanism which works.” Meanwhile, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Claire Hanna MP urged the Policing Board to conduct a forensic review of surveillance practices targeting local journalism and to examine any political interference by security actors, calling such abuses of power “a clear abuse of power that cannot be justified.”
For many observers, the case has highlighted the tension between national security and the freedom of the press, especially in regions with a fraught political history like Northern Ireland. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal, as an independent body, offers a rare avenue for redress, but the revelations have prompted questions about oversight and the potential for abuse by those entrusted with sensitive powers.
As Mr Kearney and the BBC continue their legal inquiries, the wider journalistic and human rights communities will be watching closely. The outcome may have far-reaching implications for the balance between security and liberty, and for the protection of journalists’ sources—an issue that strikes at the heart of democratic society.
