Police obtain court order forcing broadcasters to hand over riot footage

In August English cities, including London, Manchester and Birmingham, witnessed scenes of violence, vandalism, looting and fire-raising. The riots began after a policeman shot dead London resident Mark Duggan.

The BBC, ITN and Sky News passed unbroadcast material of the riots to the Metropolitan Police (Met) after the service had obtained court orders under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE), a report by the BBC said.

The court ordered the broadcasters to give the police "any broadcast or unbroadcast video or still pictures" of the riots, according to the BBC's report.

"The police are identifying people through pictures, CCTV and through the media to ensure that people are brought to justice," the Met said in a statement sent to Out-Law.com.

"We would ask the media to work with the police to ensure that happens," the Met said.

Under PACE a judge can order the media to hand over material within seven days, unless otherwise specified, if they believe there are "reasonable grounds" that a serious offence has been committed subject to a set of particular conditions.

Under those conditions a judge must be satisfied that the material is journalistic unless it has been held in confidence under the terms of "an undertaking, restriction or obligation". The judge must also deem the material "likely to be of substantial value" and used as evidence in an investigation, see that other methods of obtaining the material have been tried and failed or thought "bound to fail" and believe that it is "in the public interest" for the material to be handed to police.

All the broadcasters said it was not their policy to hand over material without first receiving a court order to do so.

"Our standard policy is that we do not supply material to the police without a court order," a Sky News spokesperson said.

"On occasions – as has happened with some of our footage of the riots – where police request untransmitted material and an order is obtained, we will comply with it," the Sky spokesperson said.

"Police requests for BBC un-transmitted material are dealt through our legal department, regardless of the subject matter," the BBC said in a statement.

"We require requests for un-transmitted material to be made through the courts. A production order requiring footage of the riots was served on the BBC and a court agreed that the material should be supplied," the BBC said.

An ITN spokesperson said: "ITN's policy is that we do not release unbroadcast material to police. On some occasions when the police apply to a judge for a court order to force the release of such material, we have challenged the police's application.