Vincent Kearney, formerly a BBC journalist and now northern editor at RTÉ, receives damages after a specialist tribunal finds that MI5 and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) unlawfully accessed his mobile phone data. Kearney brings legal action against MI5 and police forces, arguing that surveillance intended to identify his sources was not lawful. The tribunal rules that the attempt to identify his sources through phone data access was disproportionate and unlawful. The Evening Standard reports that Kearney is awarded £20,000, while BreakingNews.ie reports a damages figure of €23,442. Across the coverage, the key point is that the tribunal orders compensation following findings that the agencies obtained data from his phone unlawfully during the period when he worked as the BBC’s Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent. The reporting does not indicate criminal charges or additional remedies beyond the ordered damages.