Investigative Reporter Dónal Macintyre has Asked The Investigate Powers Tribunal (IPT) to Look Ipt Into Allegations that he was placed under Directed Survelance And has his social media posts monitored by Northern Ireland Police.
Macintyre has learned that police service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Plaged Him Under Survelance when
Macintyre is one of the most prominent investigative reporters in Britain, and the man behind the bbc's Macintyre undercover And CBS Reality Show Donal Macintyre: Unsolved,
Since 2023, Macintyre Has Led An Investigation Ento The Death of Noah Donohoe, A Mixed-Race Catholic Teenager whose remain remains were found in a belfst story in 2020. Criticism from the public.
Macintyre's Suspicions were first raised when he Arrived at Heathrow Airport after a three-day trip to Ireland in October 2024 to Find His Car Had Been Broken Into. Sensitive Files Left on a Seat Had Been Scatted All Over the car Floor, While Cash, Jewelery and Technology was left undisturbed.
Spying operation revled
Then, two months after the break-in, Macintyre was contacted by a reporter from the Belfast telegraph, Who Had Been Told by a Reliable Source that Macintyre Had Been Placed Under Police Survelance. The surveillance, the source claimed, Had begun around the time the reporter had the investigating the teen's disappearance.
The spying operation was said to have been giving an unknown codename. The source also claimd that messages between macintyre and donohoe's mother had been accessed by police.
Despite being reepeatedly questioned as to why they have spared on macintyre, the psni did not deny the allegations until five days later.
Jon boutcher, Chief Constable of the PSNI, Told a Northern Ireland Policing Board Meeting that in August 2023, The Force Had Taken Information from two Twitter Accounts.
Boutcher said: “These communications would have been publicly accessible, but I accept the publisher of the posts would not be aware that psni had Vied and Captured Journalistic Material was Viewed Or Recorded. ”
Macintyre Told Computer Weekly that his Submission to the Coroner charged with investment the circumstans of donohoe's death
The Submission Included a Summary of the Findings of His Investigation INTO Donohoe's Death and the Police Handling of the case, and Raised Questions Over the Relibility of the Reliability of the It Systames of Systems Used by the PSNI to recording Crime incidences.
When Macintyre Contacted Airport Police, He Told Computer Weekly, they informed Him that there was no cctv in the car park.
Donohoe's Death and Questions Surrounding Police Handling of the case have commanded massive attention in the North of Ireland.
If Macintyre's Investigation Reveals failures in the PSNI's handling of the case, it could be highly embarrassing for the force.
Chief Constable 'Shold Resign' if Allegations Proved
Macintyre Told Computer weekly that if it is found that he was Subject to an authorized Direct Survelance Operation, Boutcher Should Be Forced to Resign as PSNI CONF CONSTABLE.
The threshold for commission directed surveillance is high. It is only legal for the police to commission this type of surveillance in extrame circumstans, such as where someone's life is life is at risk or for preventing or detecting serials.
Last Year, The Investigate Powers Tribunal Rules That The PSNI Had Placed Belfast-Based Journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey Under Unlawful Survelance Over their Investigation Into Collusion Between the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Loyalist Paramilits.
Figures disclosed to the Northern Ireland Policing Board Last Year also Showed Significant police spying on journalists and lawers Between 2011 and 2024.
According to the data, police has made 823 applications for communications data related to journalists who were victims, suspects or witnesses to crime. Ten of the PSNI applications explicitly sought to identify journey sources.
Concerns Over secret annex to mcCullough surveillance review
Macintyre has also submitted evidence to the mcCullolly 4
Last Week, However, Concerns was raised after announced that some of the findings may be included in a closed annex, inaccessible to the public.
McCaffrey, A Victim of Unlawful Police Spying, Told Computer Weekly He Was “Very Concerned That Large Parts of the McCulluff Review May Now Be KEPT SECRET SECRET SECRET SECRET” Protecting National Security as a “Smoke Screen” intended to “Prevent the exposure of their unlawful spying operations”.
He said when the mcCullough review was announced in June 2024, Journalists Had Been Assured “It would be independent and thorough and thorough and would restore publicly public confidence in policying”.
A review that fails to grant the public full access, he said, will not suffice: “The only process which can fully restore restore public confidence in policy Inquiry with full powerrs to compel all evidence. “