Earlier today, Police Assistance Commissioner Malcolm Burgess held a press conference to discuss his decision not to charge Bradley Ambrose with a criminal breach of privacy.
After a brief statement, questions were taken. A reporter enquired:
Did you reach a view on whether or not this was an intentional recording or accidental?
A/Cmmr Burgess replied:
The investigation reached a view that at the very least it was reckless and it was, in the view of the investigators, more likely deliberate.
Please allow me to paraphrase this, in terms of its legal consequence:
Police believe that had this matter been taken to trial, they could not have established all of the elements of the offence, and that Mr Ambrose would therefore have been properly found not guilty, and that any conviction of him on the evidence they could present would have been a miscarriage of justice.