'Substantial' libel payout from NUJ to Suzanne Breen
Journalist took legal action after published comments about Real IRA case.
By Dominic Ponsford Published 09 March 2011
Investigative journalist Suzanne Breen has won libel damages from the National Union of Journalists over an article about her which appeared in union magazine - The Journalist.
Union member Breen was backed by the NUJ in a legal battle with the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2009 which had sought to force her to disclose information which could lead to exposing the identity of sources in the Real IRA terrorist group.
Breen had received the Real IRA's claim of responsibility for shooting dead two soldiers at the gates of Massereene Army Base in Antrim. She also interviewed a member of the group.
She refused to hand over phone records and notes to police and in June 2009 a judge upheld her right to do so saying that to hand over the information would endanger her life.
Breen, who was Northern Ireland editor of the now closed Sunday Tribune newspaper, began defamation proceedings against the NUJ after union mag The Journalist published comments about her stance in the Real IRA sources case.
Latest tweets
More from New Statesman
- Online writers:
- Steven Baxter
- Rowenna Davis
- David Allen Green
- Mehdi Hasan
- Nelson Jones
- Gavin Kelly
- Helen Lewis
- Laurie Penny
- The V Spot
- Alex Hern
- Martha Gill
- Alan White
- Samira Shackle
- Alex Andreou
- Nicky Woolf in America
- Bim Adewunmi
- Glosswitch
- Kate Mossman on pop
- Ryan Gilbey on Film
- Martin Robbins
- Rafael Behr
- Eleanor Margolis
- Tools and services:
- Polls
- Predictions
- Archive
- Magazine
- PDF edition
- RSS feeds
- Advertising
- Subscribe
- Special supplements
- Stockists


2 comments
I am job apply the breen police . My education history is (matric ) From B.I.S.E Gujranwala Board .
I am job apply the breen police . My education history is (matric ) From B.I.S.E Gujranwala Board .