An English police force has said it “respects” a ruling made by the north’s most senior judge in relation to an investigation linked to a film about the Loughinisland atrocity after criticism from a staff member.
Durham Constabulary issued a statement after the Irish News revealed that investigator Darren Ellis criticised Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan after a hearing in June in connection with the arrests of Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birnie.
He was among senior judges who ruled earlier this year that authorisation for search warrants obtained to carry out raids on their homes and offices had been inappropriate.
The two journalists were arrested during raids in August 2018 in which huge volumes of material was seized as part of 'Operation Yurta'.
Durham Constabulary had earlier been asked by the PSNI to investigate the alleged theft of confidential Police Ombudsman documents used in the film No Stone Unturned about the murders of six Catholic men as they watched a World Cup match at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down, in 1994.
A spokesman for the English force last night said: “Durham Constabulary respects the Lord Chief Justice’s ruling and will fully comply with absolutely all directions in their entirety.”
A spokeswoman for the Policing Board said: “The Board expects all officers engaged in outsourced investigations to act in line with the ethical and professional standards of the PSNI.”
Mr Ellis sent two separate emails to PSNI officials on June 24 - the same day Lord Chief Justice issued an order for the PSNI to continue to observe undertakings not to review material seized during the investigation.
The material relates to information obtained during the raids and later stored on PSNI servers.
In one of the emails he said: “I think the situation is an absolute outrage,” he said.
“The general judicial oversight and management of this case, including the ‘performance’ of the LCJ himself, beggars belief.”
Later that day Mr Ellis wrote an email to temporary Assistant Chief Constable Barbara Gray in which he also referred to “another quite stunning decision this morning by the LCJ".
“I forward this to alert you to the preposterous direction of the court,” he wrote.
A day later Ms Gray responded to Mr Ellis describing the content of his email as “totally unacceptable”.
Former PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton raised the matter with his then counterpart at Durham Constabulary Mike Barton both by phone and email, in which he said the “tone and content of the email” was “deeply concerning”.
A PSNI spokeswoman has said Mr Ellis has been replaced, however, it is understood he continues to be employed by Durham Constabulary.
