A former Member of Legislative Council will have to wait to find out if he’s been convicted of breaching the island’s data protection laws.

Juan Richard Turner, of Park Close in Glen Vine, and his father David Juan Turner of Mountain View in Douglas appeared at Douglas courthouse last week.

Both are said to have allowed two companies - Island FM and Carrick Creative - to process data without being registered.

During the two-day trial on Thursday and Friday, information commissioner Iain McDonald told the court his office had begun an investigation last March after Energy Communications didn’t renew its data protection register entry.

He said the Communications Commission explained Energy FM’s broadcast licence had been transferred from Energy Communications to Island FM.

And he added: ’Under the terms of its broadcast licence, a broadcaster has to keep recordings of its output for at least 42 days. This would mean it processes data as defined by the Act.’

But Victoria Unsworth, appearing for all the defendants, said there was no evidence before the court that Island FM processed any data.

Mr McDonald said that in Carrick Creative’s case, the company had claimed it owned and operated the Energy FM website - hosted on the Isle of Man.

He told Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes staff at the Information Commissioner’s Office had discovered that Juan Turner paid for the website’s hosting via Carrick Creative.

Carrick Creative is based in the British Virgin Islands, and ICO staff couldn’t find any information because the country’s company register isn’t public.

However, they found references to it in the Panama Papers naming David Turner as a director.

Mr McDonald added if a company has a presence on the island, it would need to register to process personal data such as news stories.

Matthew Oliphant-Smith, director of Octopus Media, told the hearing he dealt with the day to day running of Energy FM.

He said news was processed by a UK company and he didn’t retain any personal data - although his company was on the data protection register.

Mr Oliphant Smith explained to the court that references to Carrick Creative were because of ’a backlog updating the website.

’It should say Octopus Media, but I’ve fallen behind a bit’.

In her summing-up, prosecution advocate Hazel Carroon said it was clear that both companies processed personal data and should be registered as data controllers.

And after all defendants declined to give evidence in their defence, she invited the Deputy High Bailiff to draw adverse inferences.

Miss Unsworth, however, said most of Mr McDonald’s evidence was hearsay and nothing showed the companies handled any data.

She added if the companies were acquitted, so must both company officers.

Mrs Hughes said that the evidence was too complex to give an immediate verdict.

Instead, she said that she would hand down a written judgment, on a date to be fixed.