A journalist who received the Real IRA’s claim of responsibility for the murder of two soldiers in March told a judge yesterday that the republican terrorist group was prepared to kill her if she helped the police investigation.

Suzanne Breen, the Northern Ireland editor of the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune newspaper, said the police pursuit of her notes relating to the Real IRA had increased the potential threat to her life. She is refusing to hand over her materials and is being supported by the National Union of Journalists.

The reporter, who interviewed a representative of the terrorist organisation after it murdered two sappers at Massereene Barracks, Co Antrim, told the High Court in Belfast that the Real IRA was “more than capable” of murdering her and her family.

Ms Breen said that she had received a warning about the price she would pay for passing on information. A contact connected to the Real IRA told her: “You know what co-operation with the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] means.” This message, she said, could only represent a death threat to her and her family.

She said she was not prepared “to place my life at risk and that of my 14-month-old child and my partner”.

The PSNI says that it needs to see her notebooks relating to stories she has written about the Real IRA as part of its inquiry into the double murder.

Last month a judge said that he was “minded” to grant the PSNI application to force her to hand over the material.

Lawyers for Ms Breen told the court that her right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights had to be respected.

Responding to questions from a Crown lawyer over whether she had asked for police assisance in making her home more secure, Ms Breen said sthat he had not and did not intend to because she had not co-operated and would not be co-operating with the investigation.

Asked whether she was prepared to go into a witness-style protection scheme, she said: “Northern Ireland is a small place and republican organisations can find out information about anyone.”

She added that, by publicly taking the case against her in the High Court, she believed that the PSNI had increased the potential threat against her.

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