By 6 May, definitely. There would be some interpretation in terms of what that understanding was intended to be. There were a number of stages. At some stage, people would have had the actual code but, fairly obviously, the crux of the issue is the misunderstanding of what that code meant. That is why we find ourselves in the position that we find ourselves in.
On page 9 of Sir Anthony May’s half-yearly report, it says:
“The use of the text ‘....which is made in order to identify a journalist’s source’ could have been clearer. It appears to indicate that if the source is already known to the police the restriction on the use of RIPA does not apply”.
He then goes on to talk about the text around the word “determine”.
Without going into the detail of what might come out at an investigatory powers tribunal at a later stage, that is unfortunately what is at the heart of what has happened.