Stephen Murney Eirigi PR man not guilty of any United Kingdom law’s and here is the evidence to prove it!!!

Eirigi PR man in court over photos of police

‘In the opinion of this court, the material found in this case could not be said to be innocuous – Judge Corinne Philpott.

A NEWRY man on trial for publishing photographs of police officers on duty on his Facebook page has told a judge he would learn how to pixel late the faces of security force members in the future.

The law as it stands dated August 2010 regarding photographing police and sent from the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Stephen Murney (30) denies seven counts of publishing, collecting and possessing information likely to be of use to terrorists between August 2011 and July 2012. The prosecution has said the images were found on a computer togeather with two videos on an iPhone following a police search of Mr Murney’s Derrybeg Terrace home in November 2012 Judge Corinne Philpott on Monday rejected a defence application to dismiss the charges, after a lawyer had argued there was no case to answer. Giving evidence from the witness box, Mr Murney told his defence counsel Barry Macdonald that he worked as a public relations officer (PRO) for the Newry branch of republican group eirigi. “We are a responsible, non-violent, political party and we work towards a socialist republic,” he told Belfast Crown Court. “We do not support any armed group. We contest elections. Anyone who joins us must sign a declaration that they would not support violence.” The father-of-one said it was his job to photograph events in Newry relating to peaceful protests. He told the court he would then prepare press releases  and post material on the eirigi website and his Facebook page. Asked why he had the photographs and published them, Murney replied that it was to record the event and also highlight “any PSNI harassment “. Judge Philpott asked Mr Murney: “Could you have blanked out their faces?” “I am not very good on the technical side of things,” Mr Murney said. Judge Philpott asked: “Are you going to remain as a PRO? “Yes,” Mr Murney said. Asked by the judge “Are you going to learn how to pixilate faces?”, Mr Murney said: “Yes. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. I didn’t think it would come to this.” Dismissing the defence application, Judge Philpott said photographs had been taken of PSNI officers without their consent as the Olympic torch passed through Newry city centre in June 2012 while they policed a protest in support of republican prisoners. “In the opinion of this court, the material found in this case could not be said to be innocuous,” she said. “Nor is it material that would be expected to be collected or collated by ordinary members of the public or found in their possession. “The fact that journalists or press photographers or some other group may have this material for a lawful purpose does not preclude it from falling within the category of material referred to in Section 58 (1) (a) and Section 58 (1) (b) of the Terrorism Act 2000. “In this case the accused took the photographs, he knew he had them and that they gave facial identification of police officers. “This material of its very nature would provide practical assstance to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

Eirigi PR officer bailed over publishing police pics online

A NEWRY man on trial for publishing photographs of on-duty police officers on his Facebook page was released on bail on Tuesday after judgement was reserved in the case.

Stephen Murney, who has been in custody since November 2012, was granted bail due to the time already served while awaiting trial on the seven charges of possessing, collecting and communicating information useful to terrorists. Mr Murney, a public relations officer for the Newry branch of the republican group eirigi, had previously been granted bail. However, the 30-year-old Derrybeg Terrace, turned it down last April to stay behind bars after being told he would have to wear an electronic tag as part of the conditions. Belfast Crown Court had heard that the photographs taken between August 2011 and July 2012 were found during a police search of his home computer along with two videos on an iPhone. On Tuesday Mr Murney maintained that he beleived he was “doing no wrong” in publishing the unedited pictures, although he accepted that in two cases the faces of police officers had been “blanked out” on the social-networking page. He had told Belfast Deputy Recorder Judge Corinne Philpott that it would be too technical for him to pixellate the images but promised to learn the technique as he intended to remain a PRO for the party. On Tuesday Mr Murney said at the time one of the pictures was blacked out he “wasn’t too sure about the legitimacy of the photograph”. He said “different people were saying different things” to him about photographs and that he only remembered those two pictures being blanked out. However, he rejected a prosecution suggestion that when forced into a “tight spot you repeat the mantra: ‘I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong'”. The Newry man repeated that as a press officer for eirigi his job was to take photographs and to draft press statements. The photographs, he said, mainly concerned police harassment, particularly of himself. While he helped organise events in support of prisoners from paramilitary groups, Mr Murney denied directly supporting the prisoners. “I support the human rights of prisoners. It dosn’t mean I support their veiws,” Mr Murney who described himself as a “political activist”, said. Time and again during his cross-examination he repeated that he “did not believe I was doing anything wrong”, and that he was “surprised it got this far and ended up in court”. “In my view I had a reason to do it. I didn’t think I would be charged. I was doing it for a legitimate purpose,” he said. Mr Murney denied that he had created his Facebook page as “an open source for paramilitaries” to identify and target officers. He also rejected suggestions he had photographed and published his pictures to “wind up and annoy” the police, but said he regarded the PSNI as an illegitimate force. Judgement was reserved.