THAMES Valley Police has refused to reveal if it has continued to use anti-terrorism laws to snoop on journalists.

Police forces have been criticised for using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to seize the phone records of reporters to find out who their confidential sources are for stories, and yesterday Home Secretary Theresa May said she would be tightening rules to stop abuse.

Thames Valley Police has previously been embroiled in legal rows over seizing records. In 2006, officers bugged a part-time Buckinghamshire reporter’s car using RIPA, an act ruled in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

And in 2002 the force seized the phone records of the INS News Agency, initially claiming it was using RIPA.

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It then backtracked and cited, at various times, the Official Secrets Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and then the Data Protection Act.

When faced with the prospect of the then Chief Constable having to appear in court, it settled with INS, paid its costs and destroyed the records.

The Oxford Mail asked if the force had used RIPA against any other journalists to trace confidential sources.

Spokeswoman Michelle Campbell refused to answer. She claimed that would require going through more than 50,000 RIPA cases.


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