Police in Northern Ireland monitored the phone communications data of the BBC’s former security editor Brian Rowan in an attempt to identify his confidential sources. Court documents disclosed by the BBC’s Spotlight programme reveal that Rowan was subject to surveillance after he reported the murder of an agent working for MI5 and Special Branch. The case came to light after the BBC and journalist Vincent Kearney brought a case to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal for unlawful surveillance of Kearney’s phone data.