After eighteen weeks of threats, South Yorkshire Police have now admitted they have no good reason to seek a Court order forcing me to hand them my photographs, taken during August’s far-right riot in Rotherham.
I am extremely relieved to learn that this is over.
South Yorkshire Police were advised that their application was flawed and dangerous from the outset. They were told that pursuing an order would expose me and my fellow journalists to increased danger at work.
Yet they persisted for over three months.
I now know that they failed to review all of their own evidence before threatening to use the Police and Criminal Evidence Act to pursue me for my work.
They knew this, yet continued to threaten me with an application in the Court if I did not comply with their demand, exposing me to stress and the cost of legal cover.
Their admission that they had not been justified in pursuing their action against me came only after my solicitor challenged them to explain whether they had properly reviewed their own evidence.
They hadn’t and South Yorkshire Police now acknowledge that they did not have grounds under PACE to pursue any court order against me.
But they have refused to accept responsibility for my legal costs, accrued in the face of their threats, even though they acknowledge that I would not have been put to the trouble of incurring those costs had it not been for their threats.
I am therefore extremely grateful for the support of the Good Law Project who, when they learned of my situation, stepped in and offered to meet all my costs. I was also very fortunate to have had the professional and moral backing of Raju Bhatt of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, who represented me in this case.
Working independently means that I don’t have the infrastructure of a supportive employer or union. I was buoyed by so many people who stepped forward to offer me professional and moral support.
It’s troubling to know that others threatened with similar actions are not guaranteed the same relief and it is shocking that British police are still failing to act on the clear and repeated guidance from the Courts when they deal with journalists.
Defending this principle should not have been about my ability to pay my lawyers and yet, without the legal and financial support I received, I am certain I would not have been able to prevent South Yorkshire Police from taking their application to the Court – or even to compel them to admit they had no basis for any such application.
Journalists are threatened with hostility and violence every day because we work to uncover truths others would rather see hidden. It is essential that the UK does not slide towards a place in which police can use their institutional and financial power to bully and force us to serve as unmarked evidence gatherers.
Protecting our independence in law and in society is how we guard against that.
———–
FURTHER READING:
Police drop demand for journalist’s photos of riots – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4pdx5pex0o
The police tried to force Joel Goodman to hand over his photos of the Rotherham riots. He stood up for freedom of speech and won – https://goodlawproject.org/press-freedom-1-police-0/
Police should be wary of photographers (given that we have the ability to capture their infringements on people’s rights and crimes).
They shouldn’t be harassing us or assuming we are a security threat.
Photography is a friend of transparency. Any attempt to stifle it should be assumed to be suspicious.