Express Investigations: What Whittamore Did Next

A guest post by Chris Brace aka Mr Ceebs.

You don’t get to be a tabloid without the police issue cheerleading outfit. Especially if you’re one of the mid-market examples, constantly worried about immigrants and the unemployed.  The Express managed  to spend  money watching a range of terrorist suspects and those in the police who have watched them.

For Abu Quatada, they managed to spend £1075 to investigate over a single days story. This is for someone under house arrest,  so you don’t need a PI to follow someone around. But it’s also someone banned from using phones and computers, so you would question what services were being supplied, unless it’s all the mentioned persons family, or their DWP records being blagged. Interestingly, the Express were willing to spend more on a single hate figure than they spent on investigating the 7/7  bombers, on whom they only managed to spend  £705. One thing that it does suggest is that in the case of Quatada, the attacks have been started by the Newspapers rather than by leaks  from relevant government departments. If it had come from handouts from the home office and DWP then Desmonds troops would have been able to save money by not spending cash on PI’s

Looking further down the list there are a whole range of possible terror suspects who Desmonds troops are willing to throw a few pounds at a PI to find their details. Here are a few examples with the amount paid

Haroon Rashid (Atalah)  £264. (Yassin)Hassan Omar £76 London Bombers £212 London Bombings £705 Girma Yeshi £76 Abdul Muhid £100 abdul rauf £76 Zahoor Iqbal £271 

If you are to look at the people involved, there are several questions to ask. If they are following the same pattern as has elsewhere been employed, then it’s possible that details have been exchanged with co-operating servants of the law. Otherwise, it would involve acquiring friends and family details from a variety of databases (most likely phone companies) none of which can be done legally. After all, these people are all under arrest, or have taken part in terrorist activities that have left them far from this mortal coil. Either situation leaving them at best unlikely to answer a phone that is now in the hands of the police, and possibly leaving you having to answer some very awkward questions from men in uniforms with no sense of humour.

Further inside the list are a variety of current and former police officers probably the most interesting of which is Sir David Veness.  Now Sir David is the former Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations at the metropolitan police from 1994 to 2005 and then United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security. From 2005 to 2008, When he was transferred out from the met, he was replaced by Andy Hayman so but for the international adventure, he could have been the man facing awkward questions in front of committees and judges. It may be that he will be a witness in Leveson part 2 as some of the alleged criminal activity will have happened at a time when he was the man holding the hot seat, rather than Hayman.

The Quick and the Dead

From talking to both journalists, and those who have encountered them, the most despised part of the Newspaper art is the so called “death knock” were hapless journalists or photographers are sent round to acquire quotes and pictures of the newly grieving relatives, sometimes even before the Police have arrived to tell the victims family that the unfortunate is no longer with us. (that is an apparent  cascade of dawning comprehension as to the situation on both sides of the conversation that cannot be a pleasant experience)

In amongst the lists provided by the express are a large number of names of the recently departed.  Now seeing as finding the individual named in the stories phone number would be at best unproductive, you can only assume that the connections are being trawled for friends and family contacts to add colour to the stories.

If you are remotely well known, or have died in an unusual way then the paper seems to find it open season on your friends and relations  And if  you’re a death that manages to hit the front pages then  there appears to be no limit.

Some days over the last several years it has seemed if the Express isn’t trying to tell you that the cure for cancer hasn’t been discovered, or the weather is going to be how it doesn’t eventually turn out then it’s either still punting spurious stories based on the people’s princess. However on days when that isn’t occurring then it’s working on driving the same old crowd of Bullying McCann conspiracy theorists into a frenzy.

Looking through the document (noted here) in there are a variety of McCann linked stories that have been investigated.

Searchline and System Searches came up with the following billed Items for those investigated

McCann (ref 093/L) £135 published Daily express 04/05/2007

Murat (ref 099/L) £464 published daily express 07/12 2007

Rob Murat (ref 100/L) £464 published daily express 07/12 2007

Kate McCann (ref 132/L) £382 published Daily Express 20/9/2007

Kate McCann (ref 136/L) £499 published Daily Express 9/11/2007

Kate McCann colleague (ref 137/L) £264 published Daily Express 9/11/2007

Kate McCann friends(ref 229/L) £499 published Daily Express 9/11/2007

Gerald McCann (ref 14656) £282 published Daily Express 21/9/2007

And that isn’t including named friends of the McCanns (a no doubt incomplete list from the paperwork)

Dianne Webster  (116/l) £146.88 published Daily Express 31/8/2007

Russell o’Brian (117/s) £146.88 published Daily Express 31/8/2007

Deanne Webster (139/l) £88.13 published Daily Express 21/9/2007

And then much more expensively the following came from JJ services

Murat (ref 6013)  £904 published Sunday express 26/8/2007

McCann (ref 6017) £851 published Sunday express 22/9/2007

Sophia Murat (ref 2169/g) £188 published Daily express 05/06/2007

Now JJ services is  one of the names that popped up in relation to the previous ICO  operation Motorman investigation. And from that we have a price list for their services, published in What Price Privacy

Information required Price paid to Price charged to customer

Occupant search/Electoral roll check  (obtaining or checking an address)  £17.50
Telephone reverse trace* £75
Telephone conversion (mobile)* £75
Friends and Family    £60 – £80 not known
Vehicle check at DVLA   £150 – £200
Criminal records check   £500
Area search (locating a named person across a wide area) £60
Company/Director search  £40
Ex-directory search  £65 – £75
Mobile telephone account enquiries £750
Licence check £250

Now it is noticeable that very few of these services are legal.  But even the most expensive activity that can only  be the result of illegal techniques comes to less than was charged to investigate Kate McCann or Robert Murat. Now it’s possible that they were paid to sit outside the house of Robert Murat. However, half the worlds press, including Express Journalists were there, so it seems unlikely.

You would think that something closely related to the activities on that list were a more likely source of the bill, But even though it was mentioned by DAC Sue Akers at one of her committee appearances that investigations into the paper group were happening as yet we see no signs of Express group journalists feeling the heavy hand of the Met on their collars.

Recent Articles
The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel - Profiles
Blue Chips And The New SOCA Dossier - What The Media Missed
A Quiet Word In Your Northern And Shell-Like....
Met And Murdoch - Covert Deals And Registered Concerns
The Daily Mail Needs To Re-Think Reproof
Gloxinia And Flandria - Digging Over The Dirt
Witness Protection, Anyone?

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

The Daily Mail Needs To Re-Think Reproof

The latest from my regular contributor.

"Police gave Leveson a dossier on hacking by big firms and lawyers... but he dismissed it in 18 minutes... Evidence about the three-year inquiry was given by Russell Middleton, who was then an acting assistant chief constable for Devon and Cornwall Police." Daily Mail (here)

It seems the Mail have finally discovered some evidence given to Leveson over a year ago about a provincial police investigation more than ten years old. And about time too.

Here's the gist of the Mail 'scoop'.

1 THE MAIL SAYS OF OPERATION REPROOF

A senior officer submitted documents outlining how a little-known three-year inquiry uncovered a nationwide network of corruption. The multi-million-pound investigation found law firms, debt collectors and insurers were behind the thriving underground trade.

The senior officer, Russell Middleton of Devon and Cornwall Police (here), submitted documents called his "Witness Statement", plus short exhibits - just as everyone else who appeared at the Leveson Inquiry. As for the investigation being "little known", it was reported by David Leigh and Nick Davies in the Guardian, July 2011.

illegal PNC (Police National Computer) information had been primarily passed to respectable insurance companies, finance houses and other detective agencies

Either the Daily Mail overlooked the real significance or they missed the Guardian's story altogether. The case collapsed although evidence of blagged targets "identified two ministers and an MP. (Judge) Darlow specifically referred at a pre-trial hearing to the fact that 'particulars in respect of the [then]"chancellor of the exchequer were sought and obtained.' ... PNC checks were made by detective constable Diss on three Labour politicians, according to police interview transcripts obtained by the Guardian. All were in late 2000."

- "The first, on 13 September 2000, was on Martin Salter, the Labour MP for Reading West. Salter had displeased Rebekah Brooks, then News of the World editor. He refused her request to support her notorious campaign for Sarah's Law to 'protect us from pervs'. Shortly afterwards, on 24 September 2000, NoW readers were urged to pillory him personally in a 'naming and shaming' stunt...Salter says: 'She responded with some foul personal attacks so typical of the bullying style of the former NoW. I remember canvassing that Sunday morning and it was particularly unpleasant.' "

- "A few days later, on 18 September, DC Diss was asked to do another check, this time on Nick Brown, the agriculture minister and Labour MP for Newcastle East who had previously been 'outed' as gay by the News of the World."

- "The third occasion came two months later, on 16 November, when a check was requested on 'James Gordon Brown'. The Murdoch papers were at that point taking Blair's side in his continuing feud with Gordon Brown."

The customer sub-contracting procuring the information was private investigator Glenn Lawson of Abbey Investigations in Tyneside:

"Lawson refuses to identify his customer, but the court was told it was believed to be a newspaper.

Also in 2000, it is alleged that a News International title blagged personal data of Gordon Brown. The calls were recorded, you can listen to them, "Recording of The Sunday Times Conman "Blagging" Gordon Brown's Property Details" (here).  For more background on the blagger, Barry Beardall, see here.

2 THE MAIL SAYS EVIDENCE 'DISMISSED'

But despite holding eight months of grueling public hearings at a huge cost to the taxpayer, Leveson dismissed the officer’s evidence in less than 18 minutes.

Really?

Firstly, the obvious point to note is that.... Middleton gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry - he didn't just wander in off the street. Leveson clearly considered Operation REPROOF evidence was important.

Secondly, Middleton's witness statement was intended to be 'read in' on April 2nd 2012 (as was Brendan Gilmour's evidence on Operation GLADE - more below). However on reflection, Leveson decided the importance to the Inquiry and public knowledge of REPROOF necessitated evidence to be given in person. Middleton was therefore required to appear on May 9th. 'Required to appear' are the operative words - Leveson ensured Operation REPROOF was aired by serving Russell Middleton with a Section 21 notice for compulsory attendance.

Thirdly, far from dismissing REPROOF as the Daily Mail says, there is an entire chapter on it in The Leveson Inquiry Report, together with its progeny Operation GLADE. And the next section is devoted entirely to linked Operation MOTORMAN. (Volume I, Chapter 2 pp251-257)

Fourthly, the crucial nature of REPROOF is also demonstrated by a representative sample of police forces being asked by the Inquiry if and how reflecting on Reproof had contributed to tightening their PNC security. Each was asked

Were changes made to any policies, procedures or systems relating to use of the databases and the security of the same following Operations Motorman, Glade and Reproof? If so, please specify.

Responses were patchy -

- Chief Constable, West Midlands Police: "I don’t believe so."

- Director of Information, Metropolitan Police Service: "No specific changes were made to my knowledge as a direct result of these operations..."

- Chief Constable, Durham Constabulary: "Durham Constabulary reviewed and replaced our policy for Notifiable Associations. This policy advises staff on when they need to notify the organisation of an association or friendship with someone who could pose a risk of compromise to that individual. Of particular note is the application of the current policy to private detectives.
The recommendations from the Information Commissioners Office were also the catalyst for the streamlining of an online internal confidential reporting system called ’Bad Apple’, as well as the procurement of an improved covert audit and monitoring system."

- National Service Manager for National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPI): "I am unable to answer this question for two reasons. I was not in post at this time and therefore have no personal knowledge of any system changes. I have also looked for references within the change control system that records all system changes to PNC that have been made or are awaiting implementation but none were identified that referred to these operations."

- Assistant Chief Constable, Surrey Police: "I am not aware of any changes made after these operations."

3 THE DAILY MAIL SAYS NO MEDIA OR JOURNALISTS INVOLVED

He told Leveson he ‘never found any direct evidence or indirect evidence linking that information being requested by or for any part of the media or journalists’.

Technically true - but not quite the whole story.

A. I think I need to make clear they weren't out of scope.The whole inquiry right from the outset was extremely open, an open-minded approach as to what we would discover.
Q There was a link -- and this brings in, I suppose, the nexus with other operations -- with a company called Data Research based in Surrey; is that right?
A. That's correct, yes.
... (We)"actually briefed the Information Commissioner's office as to what we were doing, we were aware of an interest they had in that company, we came to an agreement with the Information Commissioner that they would come along with us on the search...their investigation, Operation Motorman, then led to Operation Glade, so you could track it back and say that the seizure of that document at Data Research subsequently led to those two investigations

So REPROOF was the genesis of MOTORMAN and thence GLADE. Devon and Cornwall Police drew up a contract with the ICO which enabled D&C Police able to focus on their own investigation into an Exmouth private investigations company sub-contracted by a variety of corporate clients. That is not to say that the mass of undisclosed material from REPROOF would not be very revealing, but it explains how it was that the ICO contracted to follow on investigating press 'dark arts' specifically. For more detail on the enmeshment of Operations REPROOF, MOTORMAN, GLADE and SOCA report Project RIVERSIDE see (here).

REPROOF'S LEGACY: MOTORMAN AND GLADE

The ICO's Operation MOTORMAN in turn briefed both SOCA and the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) at the MET - the latter launched their Operation GLADE into four specific individuals suspected of conspiracy to misconduct in public office. The MET investigation was deemed senior to ICO's MOTORMAN and thus took precedence. This was because the ICO could only bring 'lesser' charges under the Data Protection Act (DPA) which lacks custodial sentences.

Two of GLADE'S four defendants (a civilian police worker and a retired MET office) pleaded guilty. However, the two private investigators - John BOYALL and Steve WHITTAMORE - did not. It seems that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) made a bit of a hash of the prosecutions. (ICO Leveson Exhibit)

the ICO has liaised properly with the other prosecuting authorities in this case so as to enable them to know what the position is in relation to our proceedings. However it would appear that others have not liaised properly... information that had been passed [to ICO] by the CPS in relation to Operation Glade [shows]... that their Counsel had not carried out the appropriate exercise in relation to disclosure that should have been carried out and as such the CPS in Operation Glade were under intense pressure to seek a conclusion to their case that did not attract undue criticism, thereby leaving them open to offers in relation to specific Data Protection offences...

The decision to downgrade their case from misconduct to simple data protection act offences may be for a number of reasons however it is clear that the CPS did not do the disclosure exercise which placed them under intolerable pressure and therefore it seemed that they would take whatever Whittamore would offer and they accepted a basis of plea on a reckless basis. The manner in which the basis of plea was drafted was indicative of Defence Counsel being given a free reign to draft whatever basis of plea he wanted.

In other words, their bungled evidence disclosure left the CPS forced to agree the lesser DPA offences anyway, in order to avoid reputational damage. BOYALL and WHITTAMORE then pleaded guilty to the lesser offences and received small fines.

(And Whittamore received a character reference from a London Silk, Jerome Lynch QC, to use in his sentence mitigation argument.)

THE MAIL AND MOTORMAN

It's quite astonishing really how, flying in the face of the evidence, the Mail's report on REPROOF avoids any reference to its links to MOTORMAN and the bigger Hackgate picture. But then the Mail has a history with MOTORMAN, doesn't it? You can read an explanation 'The Motorman Files and Dacre's Dilemma' (here)

If there is a current clamouring for naming and shaming corporate clients of private investigators then those arguments hold equally true for releasing the MOTORMAN files into the public domain.

Recent Articles
Gloxinia And Flandria - Digging Over The Dirt
Witness Protection, Anyone?
Mayor Boris And The Met Payoffs
Project Riverside And The SOCA Report
All Rise - Justice Saunders At Southwark
The Met - Red Flags And Red Tops
Hackgate - Issues For The Burnton Inquiry Into The Murder Of Daniel Morgan


You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

Gloxinia And Flandria - Digging Over The Dirt

The latest from my regular contributor.

Maybe someone at SOCA must grabbed a gardening book. Police investigations are usually given approved names in sequence - sometimes themed, often alphabetical. In fact, each name is first and foremost a cost code. So when you see Operation Plymouth, Operation Two Bridges, for example - someone has delved into their Ordnance Survey Guide to Devon. Weeting, Elveden - East Anglia villages. Flandria, Gloxinia - botanical terms, alphabetically consecutive. 'F' and 'G' - simultaneously allocated.

RIVERSIDE

The contentious 2008 SOCA Report (Project Riverside), finally published unredacted by Exaro News (here) was a strategic assessment of extant intelligence in five investigations which were 'live' during 2006-07 relating to rogue private investigators. It appears these were not a representative sample or wide range of rogue private investigators though, but a very specific nexus. At the core of Project Riverside are discernible links to Operation ABELARD II and the barbarous execution of Daniel Morgan. Each of the five law enforcement operations evidence a chain of associations with Daniel's private investigations company.

THE PROJECT RIVERSIDE FIVE

• ABELARD II was the MET's fifth investigation into the murder of Daniel Morgan, co-owner of Southern Investigations (see here)
• CARYATID was the original Metropolitan Police Service (MET) investigation into phone hacking by News of the World's Clive Goodman and PI Glenn Mulcaire. Mulcaire had previously been sub-contracted by Southern Investigations. (see here)
• BARBATUS was a MET investigation into blagging, corruption and database illegal accessing by a network with associative modus operandi links to them. (see here)

But what of FLANDRIA and GLOXINIA? All that is public domain is what can be gleaned from SOCA's Project Riverside report itself. As SOCA itself said to the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) in July 2013, the five Riverside investigations have now concluded and none now are under judicial review.

FLANDRIA

FLANDRIA was a SOCA investigation examining the criminal activities of one particular investigator. FLANDRIA and ABELARD II both involved use of computer email trojans, voice-over-internet (VOIP), dead letter e-boxes, corruption of communication company employees and serving police officers, deployment of anti-surveillance strategies, accessing DVLC databases. Perhaps even more sinister, they also share techniques aimed at deliberate perverting the course of justice through illegal access to the Police National Computer (PNC) to delete or subvert,law enforcement intelligence, criminal records, live investigations, surveillance operations and attempting to access witness protection identities with a view to intimidation. The FLANDRIA focus on one "particular investigator" is its raison d'être - the sub-contracting of an ex-military 'private investigator' with the specialist IT skills to deploy and utilise e-blaster trojan computer malware. The ensuing ABELARD II prosecutions subsequently failed, partly due to subversion, police corruption and evidential disclosure hurdles.

It seems fairly certain then that FLANDRIA was the SOCA arm of the MET's interlinked Operation ABELARD II into the murder of Daniel Morgan and focused on a single corrupt, ex-military IT specialist. As such, FLANDRIA is the pre-cursor to Operation Millipede - itself a pre-cursor to the MET's Operation Kalmyk/Tuleta.

GLOXINIA

GLOXINIA pre-dates the founding of SOCA in April 2006, but not by much as it still falls within the Riverside declared parameters of 2006-Sept 07. It was a National Crime Squad (NCS) operation inherited by SOCA concerning corruption and private investigators. SOCA expalined to HASC,  p 7 (here)

(SOCA Chair) Sir Ian Andrews: My understanding is that Gloxia (sic) which was a former National Crime Squad investigation, actually involved organised crime groups targeting associates. Arrests were not made. The judgment was there was insufficient evidence to arrest or charge the subjects of that operation. Nonetheless, our understanding of what we believe to have happened reflected the content of that 2008 report.

Sir Ian was clearly anxious to curtail HASC's questions on GLOXINIA. He continued,

Sir Ian Andrews: That one is closed and I don’t think it is appropriate to go there because there was not sufficient evidence to charge.
Chair: Well, we will decide whether it is appropriate. 

GLOXINIA may be linked to both FLANDRIA and ABELARD II through the MET deployment of a Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS). Following a CHIS cover being blown, some (though not all) CHIS may be offered entry into the MET Witness Protection programme. Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told HASC, "We do take that very seriously. The witness protection scheme does suffer from an inherent risk. Many of the people that we protect often are involved in criminality themselves. There are obviously the innocent, who are victims normally. And then there are people involved in serious organised crime, the very people who have very good information: if they choose to change their ways, then obviously they are a very interesting group, and they are most at risk." (Q112, p24 here).

His highlighting of amplified risks to generic poacher-turned-gamekeeper witnesses resonates with the Project Riverside alarm-bells ringing of PIs attempting to discover the identity of CHISes". Key CHIS in ABELARD II was "Joe Poulton" - for background see (here).

It seems apparent then that GLOXINIA too was a SOCA operation arm tasked with investigating the MET's use of a CHIS and his blown cover in Operation ABELARD II.

HASC QUESTIONS

HASC member Chris Ruane MP asked SOCA a question that elicited a studied and technical response given ABELARD II (Q55):

Did you come across any evidence to suggest that people may have committed suicide or been killed or murdered, as a result of the activities of these rogue investigators?
(SOCA Director General) Trevor Pearce: Not in the five investigations that were the subject of this assessment, sir. 

It fell to Nicola Blackwood to ask SOCA the crucial question on further links to Operation Millipede:

Q45: What about the allegation that, although this evidence was available from 2006-2007, charges were not brought until after the hacking scandal?
Trevor Pearce: On the five investigations that were subject to the assessment—the document that you have—they were all ongoing at that time and arrests and so on took place. The Millipede investigation, which we have talked about, I think must have been in the last three or four years, so it would have been coterminous with some of the issues that we have seen over that period of time.

A masterclass in evasion.

FLANDRIA, GLOXINIA, CARYATID, BARBATUS, ABELARD II - all five linked, full house, the same dramatis personae. Additionally, the SOCA report was 'book-ended' by pre-2006 Operation Motorman and post-2007 Operation Millipede. HASC Chair Keith Vaz MP underlined this with his probing of MET and SOCA into the timeline of any liaison over evidence from Operation Millipede. This prompted a written joint clarification,statement from SOCA and Commander Basu (ACPO Lead for the joint inquiry for Weeting, Elveden and Tuleta. (see here)

It makes clear that Operation Tuleta was not an outcome of ongoing pro-active investigation by MET or SOCA, but was prompted by a complaint from a hacked target in 2011.

WHO, WHERE, WHEN?

SOCA's Project Riverside report was published in Jan 2008 and circulated in February internally to SOCA Board Members and SOCA Enforcement, the Home Office and the MET.

Who might have been well-placed to dust off Project Riverside subsequently?

- Andre BAKER - Previously MET lead in Abelard I and very aware of Dave Cook's alleged surveillance by NOTW when Cook was heading ABELARD I. Baker joined SOCA in 2006 as Deputy Director (see here)

- Andy HAYMAN - MET Specialist Operations, Operation CARYATID was under his Command. The same Andy Hayman who was in receipt of Bob Quick's 2000'report warning of press-PI collusion. Hayman's evidence to the Leveson Inquiry was that he had little knowledge of CARYATID detail and had left it to Peter Clarke.

- Peter CLARKE - in direct command of CARYATID's investigation of NOTW's Goodman. Replaced Hayman in 2008. Appointed to the Board of SOCA as non-executive Director 1st September 2009.

- John YATES - only six weeks before Clarke's appointment as SOCA Board Member, Yates undertook a highly publicised, day-long re-evaluation of CARYATID following Nick Davies' Guardian exposé of the extent of NOTW phone hacking. By that time, Yates had already been in command of Operation ABELARD II for more than three years.

WHAT NEXT?

The Project Riverside report clearly demonstrates there is now no more room for misplaced faith in successive law enforcement protestations of ignorance and inability to join the dots. The MET and SOCA must be called to account for their past inaction.

Keith Vaz pointed the way to the right forum p5 (here):

Q17 Chair: In terms of the Daniel Morgan inquiry, is some of this information relevant to that inquiry and has that been placed? Because we are not conducting an inquiry into this. We know there is a judge-led inquiry announced by the Home Secretary. Will this information be made available to the Daniel Morgan inquiry?
Trevor Pearce: If we have material that is relevant to that, we will make that absolutely available to the judge and his inquiry.
Q18 Chair: Will you wait for a request from the judge or will you just give it to him or her?
Trevor Pearce: In fact, pre-empting this, I have already asked for a trawl of our records to take place so we are in the position to have them.
Q19 Chair: When did you ask for that?
Trevor Pearce: About four weeks ago, before, I think, or at the time of the announcement because it is important that we are able to contribute.

BURNTON

The Daniel Morgan Inquiry, led by Sir Stanley Burnton, is due to start in Autumn '13 (see here).

MET and SOCA accountability has to be closely scrutinised by the Burnton Panel - it cannot be allowed to hide in the long grass any longer.

Seriously, enough.

It is utterly futile to try to lead the public up the garden path any more.

Related Articles
Mayor Boris And The Met Payoffs
Project Riverside And The SOCA Report
All Rise - Justice Saunders At Southwark
The Met - Red Flags And Red Tops
Hackgate - Issues For The Burnton Inquiry Into The Murder Of Daniel Morgan
Hackgate - The IPCC and Surrey's "Collective Amnesia"
Hackgate - Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
Hackgate - Springwatch

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

All Rise - Justice Saunders At Southwark

The latest from my regular contributor.

With the Mail speculating an alleged affair said to be political dynamite to No 10 and multiple News International appearances to answer charges at Southwark Crown Court, reporting (and non-reporting) of Hackgate has been busy this week.  Defendants have understandably been the main focus of attention, whilst one person in the courtroom has largely escaped notice - the judge. The Honourable Mr. Justice Saunders, a.k.a. Sir John Henry Boulton Saunders, appears to be handling pre-trial case management and may be the anticipated Hackgate replacement for newly-promoted Lord Justice Fulford.

Mr Justice Saunders was called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1972, and was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel in 1991. He was appointed as a Recorder in 1990, and became a Senior Circuit Judge and the Recorder of Birmingham in 2004. In 2007 he was appointed as a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division. Saunders was appointed as Presiding Judge on the South Eastern Circuit in January 2009, again replacing Fulford who was unable to take up the post due to his commitments at the International Criminal Court. (here)

As one of 'London's 1000 most Influential People 2011', it was said that his "self-assured approach in the media spotlight means he is being increasingly trusted for major criminal cases." (here)

Saunders J has long experience as trial judge, such as high profile cases of corruption and misconduct in public office, including senior police officers.  The legal issues of public trust will stand him in good stead.

In 2006, Saunders jailed two corrupt police officers in Nottingham who passed data on serious enquiries to suspected criminals. The convictions were for 'conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office' and 'conspiracy to pervert the course of justice'.  Saunders said their activities put the lives of vital witnesses and informants at risk, damaged the morale of the Nottinghamshire police force and undermined the trust placed in the police by members of the public. He added, "Corrupt police officers do untold damage to the criminal justice system." (here)

More recently, Saunders was trial judge for cases in the Parliamentary expenses scandal. He "presided over three trials - those of Lords Taylor and Hanningfield, and former MP Jim Devine, and has sentenced others who pleaded guilty before their trials began - Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Eric Illsley."  He also proved fearless in publicly remonstrating with Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and David Cameron for taking part in a "pre-election frenzy" which risked jeopardising the trials. (here)

Fortunately, Saunders J seems to value transparency through the frequent publication of his sentencing remarks. His reasoning in the case of Labour MP Jim Devine shows a keen awareness of concerns which may be relevant to Hackgate (p2 Sentencing Remarks, 31 March 2011):

By the time that Mr. Devine committed these offences the parliamentary expenses’ scandal was front page news. Disclosure of MP’s expenses claims had been ordered by the Information Commissioner and, although disclosure had not yet taken place, there had been regular leaks appearing in the press including one concerning Mr. Devine’s expenses claims. I, of course, ignore the content of that report, but it does mean that Mr. Devine made his false claims at a time when the papers were full of stories about MP’s claims for expenses and the public were already making clear the sense of outrage they felt. He made his false claims knowing full well just how wrong it was and the effect that false claims were having on the public’s belief and confidence in Parliament.

In another MP prosecution case, Saunders drew press criticism for a decision which took account of the defendant's psychiatric reports. In the face of much adverse publicity, he adhered to his legal obligations in ruling she was "not fit mentally to defend herself...What the court has done and has to do is to act in accordance with the law of the land and on the basis of the evidence that it hears." (here)

He has already undertaken a similar - and deft - handling in the case of a journalist previously charged under Operation Elveden, following "medical reports which had been sought by both the prosecution and defence."  (here)

Feb 2012, Saunders J jailed a senior Metropolitan Police officer for three years for 'misconduct in public office' and 'perverting the course of justice'. Commander Ali Dizaei had previously been described by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) as a "criminal in uniform".  (here)

In his sentencing remarks (here), Saunders told Dizaei:

You are a very senior officer. The breach of trust that the public has placed in you is the more serious because of your senior appointment. You have been a role model to many other people as a result of your achievements as a police officer.

Justice Saunders was also trial judge for one of the cricket spot-fixing cases in 2011-12, that of Essex cricketer Mervyn Westfield.

[The more infamous spot-fixing trials under a different trial judge were those of Pakistan cricketers - exposed by a News of the World (NOTW) undercover sting by 'fake sheikh' Mazher Mahmood. One of the defendants (Aamer) pleaded guilty, but the jury was not told and reporting restrictions were imposed so as not to prejudice the trials of the others who had pleaded not guilty. (Daily Mail)  The Prime Minister's older brother, Alex Cameron QC, was involved in defending those accused (here).  Alex Cameron was at Eton with his friend Charlie Brooks and is Head of Chambers of Rebekah Brooks' Hackgate defence QC, Hugo Keith. (here) The chambers, Three Raymond Buildings, have responded (here) by denying this association is in any way inappropriate.]

Whilst these two spot-fixing trials were otherwise unconnected, the convictions went jointly to the Court of Appeal on the grounds of shared technical issues of law. Essex cricketer Mervyn Westfield had been sentenced by Justice Saunders to accepting corrupt payments, contrary to s.1(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.  Saunders' ruling was considered correct by the Court of Appeal and the appeal dismissed. (here)

[As an aside - whilst not relevant to the spot-fixing cases - the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 has no public interest defence.]

In December 2012, Mr Justice Saunders was trial judge  in the case of R-v - Edward Devenney. It was a complex case involving the defendant attempting to give top secret material to another state whilst a serving Royal Navy officer. The intended recipients of the secrets were in fact security services agents in a sting operation (Sentencing Remarks)

The Defendant was in a position, by virtue of his job, to access top secret information that could be of use to another country. He had taken and downloaded onto his computer photographs of part of the Crypto code system to which he should not have had access... he had to obtain access to a locked safe. This suggests that he was prepared to take risks to obtain secret information and had the ability to get away with it."  It is of note that the abuse of trust was regarded as extremely serious even though there was no actual harm done to national security, nor was it ever alleged that Devenney's actions were motivated by financial gain: "The Court also has to mark the Defendant’s attempted betrayal of not only his country but also his colleagues who must feel great anger at his behaviour. Those who serve their country loyally must know that those who don’t will receive proper punishment.

Saunders profile clearly demonstrates his experience and familiarity with issues that will be central to Hackgate trials in the glare of press and media scrutiny.    His extensive trial experience is witness to his ability to deal with press, police and politicians without fear or favour.  In April 2013 he was appointed to the Sentencing Council, appointed by the Lord Chief Justice with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor. (here)  He will be serving on the Sentencing Council with other notable senior judiciary such as The Right Honourable Lord Justice Leveson and Surrey Police Chief Constable Lynne Owens.  (Council Members here)

At Southwark this week, Saunders showed empathy for public and press in a rare occurrence of a judge allowing standing room only in his courtroom. However, he has proved less sympathetic to anyone risking the breach of imposed reporting restrictions - or those perceived as jeopardising fair trial via social media.

In January 2011, during the trial of a member of the House of Lords, His Honour Justice Saunders ordered Lord Alan Sugar to delete a tweet which he thought could prejudice a fair trial - Lord Sugar complied with Saunders' ruling within 20 minutes. "When he learnt of the peer's message, Mr Justice Saunders cleared the court and said 'can someone contact Lord Sugar and get that removed'.  He also referred the matter to the Attorney General Dominic Grieve - who has the power to bring charges against individuals deemed to have harmed the judicial process. Mr Grieve decided to take no action on the matter." (here)

Saunders said: 

I reported the matter to the attorney general not for the purpose of taking any action against Lord Sugar but to investigate whether entries on Twitter sites of high profile figures relating to trials which were going to take place or were taking place posed a risk of prejudicing the fairness of a trial... And if so whether there were steps that could be taken to minimise that risk.

What CAN be tweeted however is:

Trialof Mulcaire, Edmondson, Weatherup, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Kuttner, Carter, Charlie Brooks, Hanna will be 9th Sept Old Bailey
— matt prodger (@MattProdger) June 7, 2013

Related Articles
The Met - Red Flags And Red Tops
Hackgate - Issues For The Burnton Inquiry Into The Murder Of Daniel Morgan
Hackgate - The IPCC and Surrey's "Collective Amnesia"
Hackgate - Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
Hackgate - Springwatch
Hackgate - Elveden: Murdoch Or King Cnut?
Hackgate - Elveden - Murdoch's Catch 22


You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

The Met - Red Flags And Red Tops

The latest from my regular contributor.

Looking back at the early 'red flags' of corruption and the tabloids is instructive. This post will look at warning signs at the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS or MET) in the period, roughly 2000-2005. It's a convenient timespan as it coincides with three top level rank constants -

Commissioner - John STEVENS
Deputy Commissioner & Director of Professional Standards (DPS) - Ian BLAIR
Director of Public Affairs (DPA) - Dick FEDORCIO

Indeed the senior ranks charged with anti-corruption responsibilities read like a succession of a Who's Who name-checked at the Leveson Inquiry.  Or perhaps a tortuous biblical genealogy in which Andy HAYMAN begat Bob QUICK who begat John YATES who begat Peter CLARKE etc.  Other less senior and lesser known names also recur, providing evidence of knowledge continuity of dangerous red flags at the MET - who knew what when - Shaun SAWYER, Andre BAKER, Dave COOK, David ZINZAN, Maxine de BRUNNER, Dean HAYDON, Brendan GILMOUR, Tony FULLER and so on...

Three significant MET investigations should have raised red flags in 2000-05 - Operations Abelard1, Motorman and Glade. Three more red flags were raised by key extracts from (unrelated) Reports highly critical of professional standards and press office/public affairs at the MET. These high profile criticisms were  the Virdi Inquiry Report, Damilola Taylor Review and the Morris Report.

BACKGROUND to 2000
The late 1990s had seen well publicised anti-graft initiatives at the MET, keeping Anti-Corruption Command (formerly CIB, Complaints Investigation Bureau) very busy, such as the Rigg Approach investigation led by Shaun SAWYER (here).

A parallel anti-corruption investigation was underway under John YATES - Operation Russia (here).  Also at Anti-Corruption Command was Dean HAYDON (here), later to become Staff Officer to John YATES and head ed Operation Varec (here).

A third relevant investigation was the linked Operation Nigeria/Two Bridges (here) probing police corruption, press 'dark arts' and the murder of Daniel Morgan (here) - under the command of Andy HAYMAN at Professional Standards (DPS). Andre BAKER was then senior homicide detective for South East London. On the team too at Anti-Corruption Command was then Detective Superintendent Bob QUICK. Operation Nigeria uncovered very serious red flags re newspapers, for example, a leak from the 1999 murder of Jill Dando which resulted in a detective's forced resignation. (here)

QUICK was so concerned about the intelligence uncovered that he submitted a report to HAYMAN in 2000

highlighting the role of journalists in promoting corrupt relationships with, and making corrupt payments to, officers for stories about famous people and high profile investigations in the MPS...I proposed an investigation of these newspapers/officers on the basis that I believed that the journalists were not paying bribes out of their own pockets but...the newspaper organisations were aware of the reasons for the payments and were themselves complicit in making corrupt payments to police officers.

THE VIRDI INQUIRY REPORT 2001
An investigation which scrutinised processes and policies relating to a contentious grievance, disciplinary and racism case.  In particular, the Report red flagged HAYMAN'S Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) and FEDORCIO'S Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA).

The Report (here) included two letters from Andy HAYMAN - the first said, sadly, DCS BAKER was unable to locate relevant search procedure notes as none were kept. The other letter (Appendix 13b) said he was willing to allow the Virdi Inquiry access to the press file only under very stringent conditions.  In the event, that didn't happen

This Inquiry has repeatedly requested an opportunity to view the DPA press file and associated papers on Police Sgt Virdi. Regrettably, at the time of writing, the MPS Directorate of Public Affairs has not produced these papers.

Virdi's view was

that the MPS appear to have a close relationship with particular journalists, providing them 'misleading information' as well as leaking 'details of our solicitor's confidential letter'... (and) proves the collusion of certain officers of the MPS and the Daily Mail... No-one has been disciplined on this matter.

Additionally in 2001, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) ratified its ethical Editors' Code of Conduct, Glenn Mulcaire signed his first lucrative contract with NOTW, Dick FEDORCIO became a full inner sanctum member of the MET Management Board and - in Plymouth - Operation Reproof started scoping into police corruption and illegal data harvesting (here).

ABELARD1 2002-3
Operation Abelard1 was launched by DPS Intelligence Development Group (IDG) - reopening the investigation into Daniel Morgan's murder.  Shaun SAWYER had become head of Anti-Corruption Command after HAYMAN joined Norfolk Police as Chief Constable. Abelard1 was led by David ZINZAN and fronting the public appeal for information was David COOK, working under Commander Andre BAKER. At that time, Brendan GILMOUR transferred from South East London Murder Investigation Team to the DPS - firstly to the Intelligence Development Group (IDG), then Anti-Corruption Command.

As the public face of the murder enquiry, COOK was allegedly targeted for surveillance by NOTW and Morgan murder suspects.  COOK confronted Rebekah Brooks face-to-face - the meeting facilitated by BAKER and Dick FEDORCIO (see here)

DAMILOLA TAYLOR REVIEW 2002
The Damilola Taylor Investigation Review Report into the 10yr old schoolboy's murder was published. (here).  It castigated press coverage, especially "the unauthorised disclosure of one piece of critical evidence found during the post-mortem examination of Damilola..." A tabloid newspaper published "the detail after the suspects were charged and evidential difficulties arose as a result... It is possible that the leak did in fact come from within the police service." Yet another red flag.

Despite known difficulties with substantial newspaper rewards being offered in high profile murders, the Daily Mail put up £50,000 - reluctantly endorsed by the MET: "Benefits and difficulties were identified, not least the desirability of witnesses emerging as a matter of principle rather than recompense." (p22)  That is exactly what happened; the prosecution case failed in court through the unreliable evidence of 14yr old girl (witness 'Bromley') alleged to have to been motivated by the reward money.  (Daily Mail)

Immediately the case collapsed, child witness 'Bromley' and her mother were stashed in a hotel in Blackheath where it had been arranged with the MET press office they would meet reporters from the News of the World and the Mail on Sunday. A deal was agreed with "the senior press officer at the Metropolitan Police, to pay £45,000 for the Bromley interview." (Guardian)

Yes. Yes, that's correct.  A senior press officer from the FEDORCIO'S Directorate of Public Affairs was acting as agent and broker in a tabloid bidding war - for an exclusive interview with a vulnerable 14yr old girl, in a hotel paid for by the News of the World.

Why?  And on whose authority?

Reneging on their bid agreement lost NOTW their exclusive and incurred a costly employment tribunal, heard amongst acrimonious allegations of police corruption and NOTW leverage deals with the MET to suppress embarrassing stories.  Even that leverage deal was reneged on. It wasn't until more than a year later, in an apparently unrelated incident, the same MET press officer was reportedly suspended on suspicion of the disclosure of unauthorised information to journalists. (Guardian)

OPERATION MOTORMAN 2002-3
It led on from Operation Reproof. It was an Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) investigation into 'industrial scale' Data Protection infringements by private investigators, via corrupt public officials, for a large number of national newspapers. (for background see here).

In March 2003, Rebekah Brooks (then Wade) admitted paying police officers fo information (Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee 2003)

OPERATION GLADE 2003-4
Briefed on Operation Motorman's extensive seizures by ICO Senior Investigating Officer Alex Owens, in May 2003 the MET Department of Professional Standards started its own Operation Glade.  It was an  (p3 here)

investigation into the unlawful disclosure of confidential Police National Computer (PNC) records, in the form of criminal record office (CRO) histories and registered keeper details of privately owned vehicles... passed in to the national press in exchange for monetary payment. 

Glade was led by Det Superintendent Tony FULLER, with Brendan GILMOUR as Investigating Officer. Early in 2004, seven journalists were interviewed under caution but none were prosecuted.  A civilian police worker, ex-MET police officer and two private investigators were subsequently convicted for conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office and data protection offences.  Operation Glade was clearly yet another red flag.

THE MORRIS REPORT 2004
'An Independent Inquiry into Professional Standards and employment matters in the Metropolitan Police Service'  Its focus was how the MET treated its own officers when they were investigated for alleged misconduct and/or criminality.  The inquiry looked at issues such as accountability and scrutiny of DPS and recommended a fundamental overhaul under the personal direction of the Commissioner.  Now under Dep Asst Commissioner Stephen Roberts, criticism was made of poor practices (p142)

I strongly believe that DPS is not properly regulated and that they think they can do as they please without fear of an investigation into their own activities.

They "did not record all the important decisions on the cases... there can be no confidence that the necessary rigour has been brought to bear... It also makes it difficult to track the thought processes and reasons for decisions made, which is vital." (p161)

Disclosure was refused "just 3 weeks prior to the hearing, citing that some of the documentation was subject to a Public Interest Immunity and could not be disclosed. Why did it take DPS 4 months to respond to the original disclosure request?” Another said the DPS "simply ignored the requests.”  (p171)

Leaks and negative briefings to the press

We asked the MPS to comment on some of the issues arising out of the evidence, in particular the question of information which some officers felt had been leaked to the press. Mr Fedorcio outlined the MPS’ procedures as follows: 'Where we believe unauthorised information has been given to the media the press officer will bring this to the attention of the investigating officer

We have received evidence that suggests that unofficial press releases or comment is made about individuals. The MPS denies this.

I was ordered by my senior officers not to talk to the media in my own defence and...the MPS did nothing "to counter the stream of largely false and damaging articles.

- (DAC Brian Paddick) p170

Arguably these failings echo those of the later investigation Operation Caryatid into phone hacking by Goodman and Mulcaire. Is it at all credible that no-one made any connections? Yet Brendan GILMOUR asserted to Leveson "In 2003, the concept of the national newspapers routinely using police employee to source sensitive information was still relatively unknown. On this basis I believe the MPS response was appropriate." Surely even by then there were more than enough red flags to make bunting for Scotland Yard?

Sir John STEVENS stepped down as Commissioner of the Metropolis in 2005.

Related Articles
Hackgate - Issues For The Burnton Inquiry Into The Murder Of Daniel Morgan
Hackgate - The IPCC and Surrey's "Collective Amnesia"
Hackgate - Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
Hackgate - Springwatch
Hackgate - Elveden: Murdoch Or King Cnut?
Hackgate - Elveden - Murdoch's Catch 22
Hackgate - April Casburn's Conviction - Myths And Misconceptions


You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

Issues For The Burnton Inquiry Into The Murder Of Daniel Morgan

The latest from my regular contributor.


Home Secretary Theresa May gave evidence to Leveson plus a wealth of additional material.  Exhibit TM1 includes a detailed list of 27 concurrent 'Inquiries/Enquiries/Reviews re Phone Hacking', as at October 2011 (pp 433-4).  No 4 on her list is:

Operation Tuleta - police investigation into hacking in general terms and so far involves consideration of hard drives, and other documentation seized in historic Operations (including Ops Glade, Motorman, Millipede, Abelard 2, Nigeria, Two Bridges, Abelard 1 and Russia).

Five of those eight named police investigations relate directly to the savage murder of Daniel Morgan (see here).  It is also striking that ALL EIGHT of those Operations named by May can potentially be linked to Southern Investigations (here).  The lesser-known Operations are (from Time Line of events and linked investigations, Appendix A, Operation Abelard 2 Review)

- 1987 - Operation Russia - A covert investigation into police corruption particularly in South East London

- 1997 to January 1999 - Operation Nigeria - MET assessment and commencement of covert police investigations

- January 1999 - Operation Two Bridges - Additional MPS covert investigation examining police corruption and the murder of Daniel Morgan. Enquiry revealed information pertinent to the murder investigation. Charges brought in connection with an unrelated matter.

- May 2002 - Operation Abelard 1 - MET launched a fresh covert investigation into the murder of Daniel Morgan. Led by the Directorate of Professional Standards.

Also linked to these investigations, and with overlapping oversight, are 3 senior MET officers - Andy Hayman, Andre Baker, John Yates.

HAYMAN

Hayman was MET Commander focusing on anti-corruption during Operations Russia, Nigeria, and Two Bridges. On return to the MET from service as Chief Constable of Norfolk, Hayman was MET Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations (ACSO) with overall responsibility for Operation Caryatid - the original phone-hacking investigation into NOTW (News of the World)'s Goodman and Mulcaire.

BAKER

Andre Baker has not received the same levels of public scrutiny as Hayman or Yates -  see here for more depth.

Baker was Head of Homicide for London in 2002 at the time of the Operation Abelard 1 investigation into Daniel Morgan's murder. Detective Superintendent David Zinzan led operations, with Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook fronting the Crimewatch appeal for new information - his immediate superior was Baker. Ultimately the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) determined there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution. Following the CPS decision on the Zinzan-Cook investigation, all eight suspects arrested were released (see here).

That 2002 Crimewatch appeal allegedly prompted Daniel Morgan murder suspects to instigate NOTW surveillance of DSC Cook and his wife, Jackie Hames. That Cook-Hames surveillance jn turn led to an infamous confrontation meeting between Rebekah Brooks, Dick Fedorcio, DCS Cook and his boss Andre Baker (see here).

From January 2006, Baker was Deputy Director of SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) - ie throughout investigations Operation Caryatid (phone hacking) Operation Millipede (computer hacking) and Operation Abelard 2 (the fifth investigation into the murder of Daniel Morgan).

YATES

John Yates was Detective Superintendent in MET Anti-Corruption Command and led during part of Operation Russia at the time of Operation Nigeria/Two Bridges investigations of Southern Investigations - in which NOTW were implicated.  In 2006, Yates was appointed Assistant Commissioner for MET Professional Standards, then all Serious Crime, then from 2009 Specialist Operations/Counter-Terrorism. 

This means Yates had SIMULTANEOUS overall responsibility for BOTH the NOTW-tainted Operation Abelard 2 (2006-11 Daniel Morgan's murder investigation) AND the controversial re-evaluations (2009-11) of Operation Caryatid (NOTW phone hacking).

CRITIQUING YATES

Two Parliamentarians raised pertinent issues in the House of Commons:

Gordon Brown, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Labour  (Hansard 13 July 2011, c402)

No action from the head of the first police inquiry, Andy Hayman, whose next job just happened to be at News International; no action from his successor, who had overall responsibility for two inquiries—Mulcaire and Abelard, or what is called Southern Investigations—each with vast but unexamined archives exposing criminality on a huge scale.

Tom Watson,West Bromwich East, Labour (Hansard 11 July 2011, c46)

As head of Operation Abelard, John Yates would be aware of paperwork showing convicted private investigator Jonathan Rees discussing the use of covert surveillance techniques, including computer hacking, with a close associate of Rebekah Brooks, Mr Alex Marunchak. Rees, while serving time in prison, discussed his contact with reporters from The Sunday Times. Far from this scandal being about wrongdoing at the News of the World, it is a story of institutional criminality at News International. John Yates’ review of the Mulcaire evidence was not an oversight. Like Andy Hayman, he chose not to act. He misled Parliament. 

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

Yates was apparently very keen retain Gold Group oversight, and not to relinquish evaluation of phone-hacking evidence outside his own Specialist Operations/Counter-Terrorism command. He of course had the alternative to recuse, and request that the Commissioner allocated the task of establishing the facts of Operation Caryatid to another MET command.

A different Command may not have lacked expertise and experience in bringing offences of blagging and hacking to successful prosecution. For example, at the same time as the Operation Caryatid investigation, is the 2006 case of private investigators Sharon and Stephen Anderson - blaggers of bank, tax, utilities and telephone accounts (see here).

Or (as yet unlinked to Hackgate) the network uncovered by Operation Barabatus in 2006-7. it exposed a criminal chain of former police officers-turned-private investigators hacking computers, using Trojan viruses, and illegally accessing the Police National Computer (PNC) data via serving officers. Eight men were convicted. (here)

So it appears there was no lack of appetite from other parts of the MET to pursue similar cases - with similar modus operandi.

ABELARD 2

March 2006 - the fifth Investigation into Daniel Morgan's murder is launched under AC John Yates, Commander Shaun Sawyer and with Dave Cook as operational lead (seconded from his then post at SOCA). [David Zinzan of Abelard 1 and Shaun Sawyer of Abelard 2 are now respectively Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police.]  Abelard 2 arrests followed in 2008 but, by March 2011, the case collapsed under the weight of disclosure obligations and allegations of police corruption (see here).

COOK

Dave Cook was arrested on 10th January 2012. Despite being an alleged victim of NOTW surveillance and civil litigant, Cook himself was suspected of making unauthorised leaks to a journalist and, to date, remains un-charged on bail. (Guardian)

He was arrested after the IPCC was passed information in mid-December by Metropolitan police detectives working on Operation Elveden, which is investigating alleged payments to police officers by newspapers.  Investigators working for the police watchdog have powers of arrest when carrying out an independent investigation. It is not clear why the Met did not carry out the arrest and instead passed the inquiry on to the police watchdog. A spokesman for the Met would not comment.

Cook's arrest by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) rather than the MET is indeed curious - as is this nugget from John Yates witness statement to the Leveson Inquiry:

I should add that I have been asked by the IPCC to provide a witness statement whether I authorised former Detective Chief Superintendent David Cook to provide specific information to a named journalist for specific operational reasons relating to the reinvestigation into the murder of Daniel Morgan.  I am happy to confirm that I did and will provide to the IPCC a witness statement to this effect.

Curiouser and curiouser.

In mid-May 2013, Yates wrote a lengthy article for the Independent on Sunday (here) about the Daniel Morgan murder investigations and the announcement of the Burnton Panel inquiry:

I had overall responsibility for the case from 2006 until the collapse of the last trial at the Old Bailey in March 2011... the panel will also pay particular attention to the role played by Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook...an extremely able and committed detective...Disturbingly, he provides an astonishing link between Southern Investigations, the News of the World and phone-hacking when, in July 2011, it was revealed that the paper had used the detective agency to tail Det Ch Supt Cook and his wife at the height of his involvement in leading the murder investigation.

If Yates found this "astonishing" and a revelation to him when it "emerged" in 2011 then you have to wonder who (for more than a decade) was providing him with the selection of press cuttings relevant to his rigorous investigations - the News of the World?

THE BURNTON PANEL INQUIRY
Home Secretary Theresa May said:

The horrific murder of Daniel Morgan and subsequent investigations were dogged by serious allegations of police corruption. Several criminal investigations failed to bring those responsible to justice and this independent panel will leave no stone unturned to find out why.  I am delighted Sir Stanley Burnton has accepted the responsibility of chairing the panel. He brings an enormous amount of expertise from a long career at the top of the legal profession.  The terms of reference under which the panel will operate were also announced today.

And

Importantly, the Panel’s work will put Mr Morgan’s family at the centre of the process and the approach to this issue has the support of the MPS Commissioner and the Independent Police Complaints Commission... the Panel will seek to address the questions arising, including those relating to:
• police involvement in the murder;
• the role played by police corruption in protecting those responsible for the murder from being brought to justice and the failure to confront that corruption;
• the incidence of connections between private investigators, police officers and journalists
at the News of the World and other parts of the media and alleged corruption involved in the linkages between them. 

Those are three very weighty aims that clearly cover many of the issues being investigated by Operation Tuleta - and more.

Whilst the Burnton Panel "will ensure maximum possible disclosure of all relevant documentation, including information held by all relevant Government departments and agencies and by the police and other investigative and prosecuting authorities", no more details are so far available. Yet to be announced is the list of Panel members, and there is no indication on whether the Panel can compel witness evidence or only hear from willing witnesses. Neither is there an indication that evidence sessions will be public.

The timing of the Burnton inquiry is a little sketchy.  It is intended to take 12 months to Report, but mirrors the dilemma of Leveson Inquiry (Part 1) if it is unable to address the required specificity should that risk prejudicing ongoing criminal investigations or trials.  Yet anything less than a full, independent, forensic inquiry would betray assurances to Daniel Morgan's family and further damage public trust.

That is, unless the Home Secretary anticipates charges, trials and convictions soon under Operation Tuleta - or even Operations Russia, Two Bridges, Nigeria, Abelard 1, Motorman, Glade, Caryatid or Abelard 2.

Seems like a tall order.


Related Articles
Hackgate - The IPCC and Surrey's "Collective Amnesia"
Hackgate - Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
Hackgate for Beginners - The Murder of Daniel Morgan
Hackgate - Springwatch
Hackgate - Elveden: Murdoch Or King Cnut?
Hackgate - Elveden - Murdoch's Catch 22
Hackgate - April Casburn's Conviction - Myths And Misconceptions
Hackgate - Varec Revisited - Dissent In The Ranks


You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

The Morgan Family's Statement On The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel

The following statement has been issued by the family of Daniel Morgan

The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel:

The family of Daniel Morgan have welcomed the decision of the Home Secretary to appoint an Independent Panel led by Sir Stanley Burnton to examine the circumstances surrounding his murder in 1987.

As reflected in the terms of reference governing the Panel’s work (see attached), its purpose and remit is to examine the circumstances of the murder, its background and the handling of the case over the whole period since March 1987, including:

• police involvement in the murder; 
• the role played by police corruption in protecting those responsible for the murder from being brought to justice and the failure to confront that corruption; 
• the incidence of connections between private investigators, police officers and journalists at the News of the World and other parts of the media and corruption involved in the linkages between them. 

Daniel’s brother Alastair said yesterday on behalf of his mother Isobel, his sister Jane and himself: 

“In 2011, over 24 years after Daniel’s murder, the Metropolitan Police finally admitted that their first investigation of this crime was crippled by police corruption. 

“As Daniel’s family, we were aware of that corruption within three weeks of the murder: we said so then, and we have been saying so ever since.

“Through almost three decades of public protests, meetings with police officers at the highest ranks, lobbying of politicians and pleas to the media, we have found ourselves lied to, fobbed off, bullied, degraded and let down time and time again. What we have been required to endure has been nothing less than mental torture. It has changed our relationship with this country forever. 

“In the meanwhile, the allegations and evidence of serious corruption within the Metropolitan Police – extending to recent history and the highest ranks – remained unaddressed through five police investigations and a prosecution aborted after 18 months of pre-trial argument. 

“Over most of this period, we witnessed a complete unwillingness by police and successive government to face up to what was occurring, and ultimately a complete failure by police leadership to deal effectively with serious police criminality. 

“We trust and hope that the Panel, through its examination and publication of all relevant material and information, will assist the authorities to confront and acknowledge this failure for once and for all, so that we may at last be able to get on with our lives.”

-

Daniel Morgan's brother, Alastair, appearance on Newsnight last night is featured in this BBC article, and I've previously written a number of related articles on this subject, with The Murder of Daniel Morgan providing a detailed look at the case.  It should be noted that a number of individuals involved with the case have now been arrested on other matters, so anyone quoting from any of those pieces should be careful about avoiding contempt of court when naming individuals.

For more information and updates on the case you can visit the Justice4Daniel website and follow the @justice4daniel Twitter account.

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

The IPCC and Surrey's "Collective Amnesia"

Published in late April '13, the Independent Police Complaints Commision (IPCC) Commissioner’s Report entitled 'IPCC independent investigation into Surrey Police’s knowledge of the alleged illegal accessing of Amanda (Milly) Dowler’s mobile phone in 2002' runs to just 6 scathing pages.  Its key observation is that

former senior officers at Surrey Police were 'afflicted by a form of collective amnesia' in relation to the force’s failure to investigate an allegation in 2002 that the voicemail of Amanda (Milly) Dowler had been hacked by the News of the World (NOTW).

The relevant documents in the public domain consist of a letter from Surrey Police to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee (CMS) on Surrey's own investigation (Operation Baronet), evidence read-in to the Leveson Inquiry from the Metropolitan Police Service (MET), as well as that IPCC Commissioner's Report.  The latter specifically focused on the referrals of Maria Woodall and Craig Denholm for potential recordable conduct.

MARIA WOODALL

Then: In 2002, Maria Woodall was Detective Sergeant and Action Team Manager of Surrey Police's investigation Operation Ruby into the abduction of missing teenager Millie Dowler. She appears to have been frank with the IPCC that the hacking of Millie's mobile phone by NOTW was known by several on the investigation team - for example, DC John Lyndon's 23rd April '02 log entry (p14)

...in light of the News of the World revelation that they or a third party has accessed the voicemail it is possible that the messages had previously been listened to by unknown persons and deleted.

Millie's mother Sally recounted to the Leveson Inquiry (p14) her own suspicions that NOTW had intercepted family phones to get a particularly intrusive story for publication ('The Longest Walk').

Woodall's referral to the IPCC  however was not about 2002. She was investigated for allegedly failing to pass on knowledge of NOTW's hacking later during the investigation which led to the convictions of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire (p4):  

The case against her rested on her actions and knowledge in 2007, when the first phone hacking convictions took place. It is clear that at that point she accessed the HOLMES system to view documents from 2002 associated with phone hacking.

Though the IPCC investigation "concluded that there was no case to answer for misconduct."  From 2006, Operation Ruby's Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) was Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Rowley. It is not known if Woodall informed him of her HOLMES searches.

Now: Temporary Detective Superintendent Woodall is about to leave Surrey for a new job with the City of London Police.

STUART GIBSON

Then: Detective Chief Inspector Gibson was the initial appointed Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) when Millie Dowler disappeared in March 2002.  It has been alleged that Gibson was one of the Surrey officers who met with NOTW senior journalists and were told of the hacking. (here)

Documented evidence of his meeting(s) with NOTW are missing.  Within a few weeks, Gibson was removed from Operation Ruby. The conclusions from a progress review by Sussex Police undertaken in the summer of 2002 are here.

At the same time, there was adverse criticism from the press - one "describing the investigation under DCI Gibson as 'rudderless' and this media coverage has since been described by (then Deputy Chief Constable) Peter Fahy as 'a factor in replacing the SIO for [the investigation]".  (p9)

Now: Stuart Gibson is retired.

The IPCC Investigation also states that amongst senior officers interviewed were those at Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) level.

CRAIG DENHOLM  (ACPO level)

Surrey Police's evidence to the CMS Committee and the Leveson Inquiry came from Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Kirkby. Normally, both might have warranted the attention of the force Chief Constable.  However, Surrey's Chief Constable Mark Rowley had just left for a new post with the MET and Temporary Chief Constable Craig Denholm was himself implicated as the focus of Operation Baronet.

Then: In 2002, Detective Chief Superintendent Denholm (Head of Crime) was Overall Officer in Charge (OOC) of Operation Ruby - the immediate superior officer to SIO Stuart Gibson.

The case against Denholm "rested on his claim to have had no knowledge about the alleged hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone before this was revealed publicly in 2011. Given the extent of knowledge within the investigation team, and Surrey Police as a whole, and the fact that this was referred to in documents which he is known to have received, the investigation found it hard to understand how he, the officer in charge, could not have been aware of the alleged hacking. But despite detailed examination of all extant documents and interviews with all relevant witnesses, the investigation was unable to find any witness or documentary evidence that contradicted Mr Denholm’s own repeated assertions to the IPCC that he did not know, and had not made the relevant connections. In view of that...there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of a case to answer for gross misconduct."

Now: Denholm has just been appointed Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire Police. Its Chief Constable Andy Marsh said: "Craig is an experienced and very capable DCC with a good track record of leadership and delivery of excellent policing services to the public."

MARK ROWLEY (ACPO level)

Then: Rowley joined Surrey in 2002 as Chief Superintendent to command West Surrey Basic Command Unit.  Previously (Guardian)

as a detective superintendent at the National Criminal Intelligence Service, he 'led on the national deployment of covert techniques to combat organised crime such as telephone interception' 

Rowley became Surrey Assistant Chief Constable from November 2003 and assumed the role of OOC for Operation Ruby in 2006.  He was appointed Chief Constable in 2009. Following the conviction of Levi Bellfield in 2011 for Millie Dowler's murder, Rowley iniated Operation Baronet under AC Jerry Kirkby.

Now:  Rowley is Assistant Commissioner at the MET. For some time he was direct superior officer of DAC Sue Akers command of Operations Weeting, Elveden and Tuleta.  Responsibility for these investigations was subsequently transferred to AC Cressida Dick.


PETER FAHY  (ACPO level)

Then: Throughout 2002, Fahy was Deputy Chief Constable of Surrey Police under Chief Constable Denis O'Connor. Fahy left Surrey in Dec '02 to become Chief Constable of Cheshire Police.

Now: Knighted in 2012, Sir Peter Fahy is currently Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police.

DENIS O'CONNOR  (ACPO level)

Then: In 2002, O'Connor was Chief Constable of Surrey Police. In all available evidence, O'Connor has been very keen to distance himself from the NOTW phone hacking in 2002.  Instead, he has consistently emphasized his heavy reliance on Peter Fahy's responsibility to have informed him:

You will understand that as a discipline authority, not everything reaches the Chief Constable, who must sit in judgment of things. So I may have been partially safe from it, but I would have expected and, you know,my sort of --my concern with the mission of policing and its credibility, that people would have drawn -- my senior staff, my professional standards department -- if there was anything significant, they would have told me... Particularly my Deputy Chief Constable at the present (sic) time, Peter Fahy, I had absolute faith in his integrity. I thought he would make the right judgments

Lord Justice Leveson did however challenge O'Connor on this strategy of continuing, unsighted insulation (pp 98-100).  His witness statement added (1st witness statement, p7):

I am not fully sighted on the details of the alleged contact between the News of the World and my staff during the Amanda Dowler investigation (I have deliberately limited my contact with Surrey Police pending current investigations) so cannot comment on the specifics of this issue.

Now:  Knighted in 2010, Sir Denis O'Connor is currently Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

And STILL there are inconsistencies emerging on the hacking of Millie Dowler. Note the investigation of Maria Woodall "rested on her actions and knowledge in 2007, when the first phone hacking convictions took place. It is clear that at that point she accessed the HOLMES system to view documents from 2002 associated with phone hacking."

Yet it is debatable just how much documentation was on the second generation HOLMES (Home Office Large Major Enquiry System) in 2002... or even in 2007. The - redacted - Sussex Review of September 2002 made Operational Recommendations:

Recommendation 56
That Surrey Police in general ensure that sufficient analysts are trained on the HOLMES 2 system.
Recommendation 57
That Surrey Police formulate an appropriate policy regarding the typing of at least the most significant 'other documents' onto HOLMES 2 during any enquiry.

Were those Sussex Police recommendations ignored? Or if significant 2002 Dowler phone hacking documents were in the HOLMES system, were they still there when Woodall looked in 2007? Had some disappeared by the time of the 2012 Operation Baronet?  Given that one of the aims of HOLMES is to facilitate crucial information access across force boundaries, was cross-force access to HOLMES 2002 documents volunteered by Surrey to Operation Caryatid (the MET 2005-6 investigation into Goodman and Mulcaire)? If not, why not?  Alternatively - following the high profile convictions of Goodman and Mulcaire in 2007 - Woodall may have tried to access cross-force MET HOLMES databases on NOTW phone hacking.

There were none. The MET did not enter details of the key Mulcaire Archive into HOLMES during the Operation Caryatid investigation in 2005. Or 2006. Or post-conviction in 2007.  It was only in July 2009, following intense criticism, that the MET's John Yates ordered the phone hacking data entry into HOLMES to enable victim notification. It was costly, protracted, and poorly executed.

The IPCC confirms "widespread knowledge uncovered in this investigation, we consider that it is scarcely credible that no one connected to the Milly Dowler investigation recognised the relevance and importance of the knowledge that Surrey Police had in 2002...There is no doubt, from our investigation and the evidence gathered by Operation Baronet, that Surrey Police knew in 2002 of the allegation that Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked by the News of the World. It is apparent from the evidence that there was knowledge of this at all levels within the investigation team  ...former senior officers in particular appear to have been afflicted by a form of collective amnesia about this"

All this is highly reminiscent of the (contagious?) 'omerta' culture at the News of the World. Surrey Police seem to have demonstrated the self-same collective amnesia and willful blindness of NOTW senior executives, the plausible deniability of Andy Coulson, the trusting reliance on subordinates of Rupert Murdoch, the inability to read a log/email chain of James Murdoch, the document preservation abilities of News International's Datapool 3 team, and the reputational management skills of Colin Myler.

To date, six have been charged with conspiracy to intercept the voicemail messages of Millie Dowler in April 2002 - Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck and Glenn Mulcaire.  Unless all six defendants plead guilty, these charges will have to be defended in open court. So there is much more evidence yet to emerge on the Dowler hacking, including the potential for former senior officers of Surrey Police being called as prosecution witnesses.

The short IPCC Commissioner's Report is a much-truncated and redacted version. The full IPCC formal Investigation Report "contains full details of the evidence supporting the findings and conclusions and the report into this case is not being published at this time at the request of the Crown Prosecution Service, in view of ongoing criminal proceedings."

This sorry Surrey saga is not over yet.


Related Articles
Hackgate - Springwatch
Hackgate - Elveden: Murdoch Or King Cnut?
Hackgate - Elveden - Murdoch's Catch 22
Hackgate - "Snakes And Ladders" At The Met
Hackgate - April Casburn's Conviction - Myths And Misconceptions
Hackgate - Varec Revisited - Dissent In The Ranks
Hackgate - Sue Akers' Swansong

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com