Watchdog sides with MI5 to reject phone-tap evidence

I missed this in the Guardian earlier in the week: Watchdog sides with MI5 to reject phone-tap evidence

The prospect of phone-tap evidence being used in court, an issue at the heart of the dispute over proposed anti-terrorism measures, received a blow yesterday when the prime minister's eavesdropping watchdog opposed the idea.

Sir Paul Kennedy, an appeal court judge who monitors communications intercepts, said in his first official report: "I am firmly of the opinion that the benefits of any change in the law [in intercept evidence] are heavily outweighed by the disadvantages." He added: "With one exception, everyone to whom I have spoken in the course of my visits seems to be of the same opinion."