Broadcasters do not have to release Dale Farm footage

Five media providers have won a high court battle to prevent Essex Police being able to get hold of footage of the disturbances that erupted during the evictions from the Dale Farm site in Basildon last year.

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Independent Television News Ltd (ITN), Hardcash Productions Ltd (who took footage for the BBC news programme Panorama), and Jason Parkinson (a freelance video journalist), won a ruling after Essex Police were accused of going on a “fishing expedition” to try and bring charges against some of the people involved in the trouble at the campsite.

The Judges, Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Eady, criticised the force for trying to obtain footage when there might only be a chance it held important information rather than having a strong case for evidence being contained in the film.

As such, the request from Essex Police failed to show the request was necessary and proportionate, helping to provide information to assist interpretation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) (1984).

It was alleged that between the five organisations, more than 100 hours of footage relating to the expulsion existed.

The judgement stated: “The primary case advanced on behalf of the Essex Police appears to have been that the claimants’ footage might show an unidentified suspect at some point revealed (presumably unmasked) in the hours after the violence had come to an end.

“One theory is that such persons might have felt more relaxed when they felt confident that the police, or those associated with the police, were no longer filming them. That is the theory, but it is no more than speculation. There is no solid evidence to show that this did happen in any particular case.”

He acknowledged that while there was public interest in media outlets handing over information that would solve a crime, this was balanced against the media’s right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act (1998) and Essex Police had done little to show there were grounds to obtain the information.

The footage was shot between October 19 and 20 and showed violent protests by residents on the Dale Farm site after Basildon Council ordered several homes to be removed on the site.

Essex Police had originally made the request to obtain the footage at Chelmsford Crown Court in February.

A force spokesperson said: “Essex Police will give careful consideration to the ruling by the High Court in favour of the broadcasters.

“A police officer is duty bound to pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry under the Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act and follows that if the media are known to have been present then their footage, broadcast or not, is a significant line of enquiry as part of any investigation.

“Broadcast footage can play a similar role as CCTV in identifying a suspect and facilitating a prosecution.

“During the planning enforcement by Basildon Borough Council at Dale Farm, police officers and the council agents faced violent disorder. Missiles and other substances were thrown and the significant criminality that took place is part of this investigation to identify and prosecute those responsible for this criminality.”

ITN Chief Executive John Hardie said: “This landmark decision is a legal recognition of the separate roles of the police and independent news organisations. We fought this case on a matter of principle – to ensure that journalists and cameramen are not seen as agents of the state, and to protect the safety of our staff.

“The requests from Essex Police didn`t relate to specific incidents of serious criminality and amounted to no more than a fishing expedition to see what footage ITN and other news organisations held on the Dale Farm evictions.”