Leaked internal emails have revealed Police Scotland sought access to the telecoms records of Sunday Mail journalists’ sources despite being warned this was illegal.

The revelation has undermined evidence given by acting deputy chief constable Ruaraidh Nicolson to Holyrood’s Justice Committee in which he repeatedly claimed detectives were not warned in writing against using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to access journalists’ telephone and email data despite the emails existing as proof that written warnings were made.

Reforms to RIPA, made in March last year following Press Gazette’s Save Our Sources campaign, mean any police attempt to access telecoms records to identify a journalistic source must be approved by a judge.