A former Durham Police detective is expected to give evidence today during a tribunal into the police surveillance of journalists.
The tribunal hearing in London comes after it emerged that police carried out surveillance on respected journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney.
Details of the PSNI spy scandal came to light through the London-based Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), which is examining allegations that Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney, were subjected to unlawful surveillance.
The pair made a complaint to the IPT in 2019 over their arrest the previous year in connection with an acclaimed 2017 documentary about the UVF sectarian murder of six men at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down, in June 1994.
The IPT looks at complaints from people who believe they have been the victim of unlawful covert interference.
A third journalist, RTÉ's Vincent Kearney, who previously worked with the BBC in Belfast, is also believed to have been placed under surveillance.
In June the PSNI admitted making 823 applications for communications data for journalists and lawyers over a 13-year period from 2011-2024.
Weeks later it emerged that more than 4,000 phone communications between 12 journalists were monitored by police over a three-month period.
On Tuesday the tribunal will hear oral evidence from retired Durham police officer Darren Ellis.
Mr Ellis was the senior investigating officer with a Durham Police led investigation, Operation Yurta, into the alleged theft of confidential documents used in the film about the Loughinisland atrocity.
Patrick Corrigan, of Amnesty International, said the case is “crucial” for “press freedom in the UK”.
“The police have serious questions to answer about the secret surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland,” he said.
Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, said the hearing “holds huge significance to journalists and other groups possibly targeted by the PSNI in covert surveillance”.
