Two journalists arrested for airing confidential material in a documentary acted in a perfectly proper manner to protect their sources, Northern Ireland’s top judge has said.

Trevor Birney (pictured, far left) and fellow film-maker Barry McCaffrey (centre) were detained last year over the alleged theft of a police watchdog document that appeared in their film No Stone Unturned, which is about the murders of six men in Loughinisland, County Down, in 1994.

Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Sir Declan Morgan said the granting of a search warrant for their homes and offices was “inappropriate”.