A newspaper journalist won the right yesterday to withhold information from the police about the Real IRA and its involvement in the murder of two British soldiers.

A judge ruled that the life of Suzanne Breen, northern editor of the Sunday Tribune, which is published in Dublin, would be in danger if she were forced to hand over the information.

She had been subject to a legal application by Sir Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, who is seeking information about the murders of the two soldiers at the Massereene army base in March.

Ms Breen, who is based in Belfast, received the Real IRA’s claim of responsibility for shooting dead Sapper Patrick Azimkar, 21, from London, and Sapper Mark Quinsey, 23, from Birmingham, at the gates of the base in Antrim.

Tom Burgess, the Belfast Recorder, said that the journalist’s right to life outweighed the great public interest in catching the murderers. There was objective evidence that the terrorist group would attack Ms Breen if the information were handed to the authorities, even as a result of a court order, he said.

The judge rejected the police argument that there was no immediate threat to the journalist, stating it was obvious that such a risk would become real only if the information were relinquished. He described the Real IRA as a “ruthless and murderous group of people” who would have no hesitation in attacking the reporter.

“The group has the capacity to carry out such threat and is willing to carry out such actions,” he said.

As well as receiving a mobile phone claim of responsibility, Ms Breen conducted an interview with a member of the dissident terrorist group. When she refused to hand over telephone records and notes to officers investigating the security force murders, the police went to court to seek an order that would compel her to do so.

Ms Breen, who faced a possible prison sentence, told the judge that protection of sources was the linchpin of investigative journalism. It was the job of the police and not the media to investigate crime.

After hearing the decision, she said: “I am just delighted. The past few months have obviously been very stressful. I think this action by police should never have been taken. It was a complete waste of time, resources and of taxpayers’ money and hopefully the police will learn from this decision and no other journalist will find themselves in the position that I found myself, potentially facing up to five years for doing nothing other than my job.”

Seamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: “An order forcing a journalist to hand over notes would have struck at the very heart of journalism and the converse of that is a victory today. A refusal of the order is a great day for journalism in Northern Ireland.”

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