Damages ordered against police for unlawful data use

A tribunal has ordered Police Scotland to pay £10,000 in damages to a former officer for "unlawful" use of data as it attempted to trace the source of a media leak.

Gerard Gallacher obtained the award from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which ruled that the force had acted unlawfully when it obtained communications data as it attempted to find out how information was made public about a suspect in the unsolved murder of prostitute Emma Caldwell.

Mr Gallacher was one of six people who took the case to the tribunal, along with his wife, another former officer and his wife, and two serving officers, complaining of "collateral interference with their privacy". Only Mr & Mrs Gallacher sought damages.

Gerard Gallacher, who carried out an 18-month journalistic investigation into the case, claimed he had suffered an "invasion of privacy, familial strife, personal stress and strain and loss of long-standing friendships" due to the police action. The tribunal ruled there had been a serious interference with his right to freedom of expression under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in respect of the obtaining of more than 32 days of communications data.

It also ordered an inquiry into the breach of guidelines on the use of investigatory powers to be conducted by a senior officer from another part of the UK, one "without any previous relevant connection with Police Scotland".

At the end of July, new chief constable Phil Gormley asked Mike Barton, chief constable of Durham Constabulary, to carry out an independent investigation into "a number of non-criminal complaints that relate to matters connected to the breach of communications data protocols and guidance".

Detective Inspector David Moran, another complainant in the case, welcomed the move but said the spirit of what was discussed at the tribunal hearing was that all matters, whether potentially criminal or non-criminal, should be on the agenda for an inquiry.

Peter Watson, solicitor advocate for four of the complainants, said the new investigation would allow a determination of whether the police's acts were deliberate or reckless, which was relevant to criminality.