Northern Ireland’s police chief has said he “does not recognise” comments alleged to have been made by a senior officer that a prevalence of Catholic judges in the region was leading to “perverse decisions”.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher insisted his force has full confidence in the judiciary following evidence given to a tribunal earlier this week.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) hearing in London is examining claims that investigative reporters in Northern Ireland were subject to unlawful covert intelligence by the police.
During evidence on Wednesday, former Durham detective Darren Ellis, who investigated a suspected leak in a documentary about a Troubles massacre, said a senior PSNI officer had made comments to him stating there was a “disproportionate representation” in the judiciary from a Catholic background.
An email sent by Mr Ellis, which was read at the tribunal, stated: “The officer informed me of what they considered to be perverse decision-making within the criminal justice process by those of a religious and political persuasion, given the prevalence of those from a Catholic background within the Northern Ireland courts system.”
Mr Boutcher was asked about the comments during a meeting of the PSNI oversight body, the Policing Board, on Thursday.
Sinn Féin member Gerry Kelly said: “If that was said by a senior officer in the PSNI or an ex-senior officer in the PSNI, what would be your view of that?”
Mr Boutcher said: “We have to be very careful of any prejudice to the ongoing IPT proceedings.
“I need to say, just to reassure you and the board, I have a very constructive and positive relationship with the Lady Chief Justice (Dame Siobhan Keegan).
“We, as an organisation, have absolutely full confidence in our judiciary and we work closely with them.
“I don’t recognise those remarks.”
Mr Boutcher said the remarks “were not recalled” by the officer alleged to have made them and would be challenged.
Mr Kelly responded: “Obviously this has an effect on people who may believe what is out there.
“The question I am asking is, if any officer made remarks like that I presume you would entirely disagree with them?”
Mr Boutcher said: “I cannot emphasise sufficiently how much I disagree with them.
“As I say, I have got full confidence in the judiciary.
“We have an extremely good relationship with the judiciary and our criminal justice partners per se.
“I saw the remarks last night. I don’t recognise anything from those remarks from my time in Northern Ireland working both in legacy investigations or as chief constable.
“They are not correct, they are wrong. I have not seen anything which would reflect anything like that.”
Three police forces – the PSNI, Durham Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police – are part of the IPT hearing about alleged unlawful covert surveillance.
Journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney were arrested in 2018 as part of an investigation into the alleged leaking of a confidential document that appeared in No Stone Unturned, about the 1994 UVF massacre in Loughinisland, Co Down.
The two men and the company behind the documentary were later awarded £875,000 in damages after the High Court in Belfast ruled that warrants secured by police to raid their homes and business offices in the city were wrongly obtained.
In 2019, Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney lodged a complaint with the IPT asking it to establish whether there had been any unlawful surveillance of them.
