Journalist Breen wins legal bill battle
Journalist Suzanne Breen who won a legal battle with police seeking to force her to surrender information on the Real IRA has been spared from a £50,000 legal bill.
Suzanne Breen non deve pagare le spese processuali
Belfast Recorder Judge Tom Burgess ruled that the PSNI should pay 75% of the costs Ms Breen incurred by resisting an application to order her to hand over a mobile telephone, computer records and notes on the dissident republican organisation.
Police had sought the material from the northern editor of the Sunday Tribune newspaper as part of their investigation into the killing of two soldiers.
She received the Real IRA’s claim of responsibility for the murders of Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar outside Massereene barracks in Co Antrim in March.
Judge Burgess dismissed the police application in June because it would breach the journalist’s right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights to order her to surrender the information.
Following that decision Ms Breen returned to court to seek an order that her costs in the case should be met by the PSNI.
‘At risk’
In his judgment the Recorder said police would have been aware when making the application that she was arguing her life would be at risk if she complied.
He concluded the PSNI would have assessed this risk due to its unique position in considering the general security background.
“I am satisfied that from an early stage it would have been clear to them what those risks were and that I have no evidence in front of me to suggest that at any stage they intended to challenge that factual backdrop by production of evidence of their own,” he said.
Outside the court Ms Breen’s solicitor, Joe Rice, expressed delight at the ruling.
He said: “It’s a significant judgment in favour of Ms Breen and totally vindicates the stance she took throughout the application by the PSNI.
“Her costs, and the Sunday Tribune’s costs, in this case as a result of the way police dealt with the case would be at least over £50,000.”
