NORTHERN EDITOR of the Sunday TribuneSuzanne Breen said she felt further vindicated by a ruling yesterday on legal costs in her case against the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
She had previously won a legal battle with the PSNI who had been trying to force her to surrender information about the Real IRA.
The journalist claimed the case should have been dropped sooner by the PSNI after the police authorities were ordered to pay 75 per cent of her costs. She said: “The taxpayer is going to have to carry the burden for a case that shouldn’t have been taken in the first place. I feel and the newspaper feels completely vindicated by our stand.
“This is an endorsement of the freedom of the press and hopefully will mean the PSNI never again put another journalist and another newspaper in this position.”
Ms Breen spoke out after Belfast Recorder Judge Tom Burgess ruled the police service should pay three-quarters of costs she 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 Ms Breen 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.
In his judgment, the judge 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.
“I have concluded with no difficulty that at least some part of Ms Breen’s costs should be met by the PSNI.
“As to the extent, I have sought to strike a balance in respect of this mixture of issues and have concluded that short of a detailed measuring of the costs that I should instead reflect the costs to be paid as a percentage. I have therefore concluded that the PSNI should discharge 75 per cent of Ms Breen’s costs.”
Outside the court, Ms Breen’s solicitor, Joe Rice, also expressed delight at the ruling and disclosed the potential financial burden she had been facing.
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."