Police chiefs warn snooping curbs will put lives at risk

THOUSANDS of lives could be at risk, police chiefs have warned after the High Court court ruled that snooping powers should be curtailed.

In a humiliating defeat for Theresa May, the Home Secretary, judges said the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (Dripa) did not provide sufficient safeguards.

They ruled that the powers, which allow access to phone and email records, should be limited to combating terrorism and serious crime.

The power was used in around 16,000 cases last year to “prevent death or injury”, the Home Office said.

Under the ruling, judges or an independent body will have to sign off every one of the 500,000-plus requests to access communications data each year.

The judges did not immediately throw out the legislation but instead ordered the Home Office to redraft the law by next March. The powers can still be used in the meantime.

But John Hayes, the security minister, said: “We disagree absolutely with this judgment and will seek an appeal.”

He also hit out at his Tory colleague, David Davis, who brought the challenge along with Labour’s Tom Watson.

He said he was surprised that Mr Davis was willing to risk “giving succour to the paranoid liberal bourgeoisie whose peculiar fears are placed ahead of the interests of the people”.

Assistant Chief Constable Richard Berry, from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “A significant proportion of our acquisition of data relates to situations where life is at immediate risk and a significant proportion of those requests relate to non-crime inquiries, for example: tracing vulnerable and suicidal missing persons.”

Mr Davis said the powers, introduced last year in response to a ruling by the European Court of Justice, were “illthought through” and “fatally flawed”.