LISTEN: Journalist to lodge complaint against PSNI with Police Ombudsman

By Rebecca Black, PA

A Northern Ireland journalist is to lodge a complaint against the PSNI to the Police Ombudsman.

Patricia Devlin is contending that police failed to investigate a threat against her baby.

The Sunday World reporter said she received the threat by direct message to her personal Facebook account.

She said the sender threatened to rape her newborn son, and that it was signed with the name of the terror group, Combat 18.

Ms Devlin said she reported the threat to the PSNI one year ago and is frustrated at a “lack of progress”.

“Because of my job as a journalist, exposing criminals and paramilitaries, I have been on the receiving end of threats of violence and death threats for years.

“In Northern Ireland, that now seems to go with the territory where press freedom comes at the price of constant and repeated threats to journalists,” she said.

“But, when I received a threat to rape my new-born baby, also identifying my grandmother and the location of where the sender believed she lived, I had enough.

“I reported the threat to the PSNI and was even able to name the individual I suspect was behind the threat.

“The police have had this individual’s name all this time, yet, a year on, no-one has been brought in for questioning, never mind arrested.”

Ms Devlin’s solicitor, Kevin Winters, contended there has been a “systemic failure by the PSNI to advance the investigation expeditiously and meaningfully”.

“My client has been left with no choice but to bring this complaint to the Police Ombudsman,” he said.

The journalist has been backed by Amnesty International and the NUJ.

Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan described the threats sent to Ms Devlin as “totally abhorrent”.

The threats sent to Patricia Devlin are totally abhorrent. They are part of a wider climate of violence which is undermining press freedom in Northern Ireland. We must stand together against such threats.
Pleased @AmnestyUK is supporting her demands for an effective investigation https://t.co/Qk8Jbaozhz

— Patrick Corrigan (@PatrickCorrigan) October 12, 2020

Patrick Corrigan speaking to Q Radio

“Amnesty International has been watching with increasing concern the constant stream of threats being received by journalists in Northern Ireland, designed to shut down press scrutiny of criminal and paramilitary activity,” he said.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, added: “That such despicable threats have been made is an outrage, but that the subsequent police investigation has been so ineffectual and flawed is also completely unacceptable.

“Facilitating impunity for those who choose to threaten, harass and attempt to silence journalists has a collective impact on the journalistic community, one which compounds the awful personal impact on Patricia and her family.”

A PSNI spokesman said: “PSNI encourages anyone with a complaint regarding police actions to contact the Police Ombudsman.”