Decision due in Breen note case

Suzanne Breen received the admission of responsibility for two murders

The High Court is due to rule later on whether to grant a police application to make a Belfast journalist hand over interview material.

The PSNI is trying to force Suzanne Breen hand over material linked to articles she wrote on the Real IRA.

Ms Breen, the northern editor of the Sunday Tribune, received the group's claim of responsibility for the murder of two soldiers in Antrim in March.

She has argued that handing the notes over will put her life in danger.

The police said they need them as part of the murder inquiry.

In May, a judge said he was "minded" to grant the police application to force the journalist to hand over the material.

However, he said his view could change once he heard arguments from her legal team.

Among those who went into the witness box to back Ms Breen's stance during the trial was her editor, Noreen Hegarty, Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News, Liam Clake from the Sunday Times, media commentator Roy Greenslade and the BBC's John Ware.

All of them were united in stressing how a journalist must honour any guarantee of confidentiality given to those who provide information.

Sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, from Birmingham, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, from London, were shot dead as they collected pizzas outside Massereene Army base.

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