The Met Police press office handed over the telephone numbers of Sun journalists who had called up to check stories, to police officers who then spied on them to covertly identify sources. The revelation was made yesterday at The Investigatory Powers Tribunal where Sun lawyers expressed disbelief that police officers had used RIPA legislation that is supposed to be used to protect national security, to root out sources.

Earlier this year, three members of the Guido team sent off Freedom of Information requests to the Met asking whether the police had obtained call data from their phone using RIPA. The police refused to answer on the ground that it was a “vexatious or repeated request” and bizarrely accused Guido of colluding with Press Gazette to send the FoIs. He wasn’t…

Guido has called the Met Press office from his mobile. Are they using RIPA to snoop on his calls?