Hackgate - The John Boyall Files

The latest piece from my regular contributor.

You win some, you lose some.

Following a four-day hearing last week, the large group of phone-hacking civil claimants won the right to see 9 key Glenn Mulcaire emails. On the downside, Justice Vos said they have enough disclosure material for the current cases so they lost on one issue -

The phone-hacking claimants were seeking further disclosure in relation to Mulcaire's activities before 2001 in an effort to establish whether voicemail interception had taken place earlier than admitted by News International during the course of the civil litigation proceedings

So, restricting the disclosure window  to post-2001? Narrowing the parameters? Isn't that one of the strategies that drew criticism to Operation Caryatid - the original phone hacking 2006 investigation? Has nothing been learnt?

It is to be hoped that an arbitrary 2001 date in the civil cases is not taken as a precedent for ongoing and future police investigations or Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charging decisions into journalist/private investigator 'dark arts'.  Clearly, the phone hacking victims are not the only ones needing to know the genesis and extent of the 'dark arts' - it is in the wider public interest.

Irrespective of Mulcaire having or not having a direct contract with News International pre-2001, it is in the public domain that he was undertaking investigative work for them.

All through the late 1990s, the paper had been hiring an investigator called John Boyall, who, among other services, specialised in acquiring information from confidential databases. He had a wiry young man working as his assistant, named Glenn Mulcaire. In the autumn of 2001, John Boyall fell out with the News of the World's assistant editor, Greg Miskiw, who had been responsible for handling him. Miskiw replaced him by poaching Glenn Mulcaire and giving him a full-time contract.

John Boyall - at the time that he was employing Mulcaire - came to police attention.  Devon and Cornwall Constabulary scoped intelligence that a nationwide network of private investigators was illegally obtaining information from the Police National Computer (PNC).  That scoping led to an investigation called Operation Reproof.  In turn, Operation Reproof led to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) investigation Operation Motorman into data offences, and a Metropolitan Police (MET) investigation - Operation Glade.  For more information, see 'Revisiting Operation Reproof and Other Police Operations'

Devon and Cornwall police organised a raid of business premises outside London associated with Boyall.  ICO investigators were invited to accompany, to deal with suspected Data Protection breaches. Material was seized which indicated corrupt DVLA sources, plus a wealth of other incriminating documentation including commissions from Steve Whittamore (see Alex Owens' evidence to Leveson).

What is less clear is what happened to the wealth of evidentiary material.seized in the Boyall raid.  This of course begs questions - what time period do the 'Boyall Files' cover? Do they include material that may shed light on Boyall and Mulcaire's pre-2001 'dark arts' activities for journalists? Were their specialist corruption and blagging skills commissioned and deployed for other private investigators? Is there material relevant to other contemporaneous police investigations, for example, Operation Nigeria?

Given the MET's past record of effective searches of 'unused material' and their vague, hazy explanation of how long they keep it safe after convictions (five, six, seven years..?) one could be pessimistic. If it weren't for Nick Davies' reports in the Guardian, the Mulcaire material in bin bags may well have found their way into a MET incinerator.  But the best place to start may be via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the Information Commissioner's Office itself.  As the entity responsible for ensuring FOI compliance, doubtless they would welcome the opportunity to answer a few questions - in the public interest:

Where are the Boyall Files and unused material?

Were the Boyall Files passed on or copied to the MET for use in Operation Glade?

Did Devon and Cornwall Constabulary retain the Boyall Files and unused material for use in the abortive Operation Reproof prosecutions?

Were the Boyall Files incorporated into the spreadsheets of the more-famous Motorman Files?

Where is the unused material from Operation Motorman, given that the earliest data relate to 1996?

Were copies of the Boyall Files and unused material provided to the MET for use in Operation Caryatid?

Have the ICO been asked, or given, permission for the destruction of any or all of the Boyall Files and/or related material?

At least two allegations of pre-2001 phone hacking were given in evidence to Lord Justice Leveson:

• James Hipwell's evidence asserted phone hacking at The Mirror 1998-2000
• Dominic Mohan described how newspapers, in 1998, hacked into the mobile phones of members of the Irish Government to expose lax security.

Therefore there seems to be an argument for locating and preserving pre-2001 material - especially relating to Mulcaire - before it is lost, destroyed or compromised.  The clock is ticking to get it preserved fast.

Related Articles
One Rogue Email And The Indestructible Archive 

John Yates And Neil Wallis - A Mutual Understanding
Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
News Corp - Diplomatic Immunity?
The Cook-Hames Surveillance : A Watched Kettle...
Alastair Morgan On The Latest Hackgate Revelations

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

The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 2: Discrepancies And Delays

Part 1 provided contexts up until just after Milly Dowler's disappearance.  Part 2 looks at when evidence and suspicions of NotW hackings could - perhaps should - have been unearthed.

May 02  Seven weeks after her disappearance, Bob and Sally Dowler were stalked by NotW whilst they quietly re-traced missing Milly's last known steps. Their 'grief walk' became a major story in NotW, with surveillance photo.  Sally told her police Family Liaison Officer that NotW could only have found out their plans from their phone conversation or a police source.

SURREY Police therefore had an opportunity to connect their knowledge of NotW phone hacking and suspicions that it was still continuing, with Milly's parents as targeted victims.  Adjoining force, Sussex Police, were requested to start a review of the SURREY Dowler enquiry. It is not known if SURREY's knowledge of NotW hacking was disclosed to Sussex officers.  Another missed opportunity.

16th July 02  A major discrepancy here.  According to a SURREY Police statement in 2012 (page 13), this date was when NotW met with SURREY Police detectives Craig DENHOLM and Stuart GIBSON of the Miller Dowler investigation team.  This contradicts The Independent's report  (also cited in Part 1) that two face-to-face meetings had taken place weeks before, in April. The July 16th timing is debatable however as Stuart GIBSON had already been replaced on the Dowler investigation in late June.

Aug 02  The Soham murders, Cambridgeshire.  In 2011, the victims' parents were informed by police that their phone numbers had been found in Glenn MULCAIRE's notebooks.

Sept 02  Milly Dowler's body found.

Nov 02  Devon and Cornwall Police's Operation REPROOF planned with ICO their first raid on suspect premises.  As per good practice REPROOF informed, liaised with and secured necessary support from the relevant geographical constabulary - SURREY Police.  REPROOF and ICO then raided the business premises (Guildford, SURREY) and home (Caterham, SURREY) of John BOYALL. As a result of material seized, ICO commenced OPERATION MOTORMAN, their investigation into widespread data offences.

Mar 03  Raid on Steve WHITTAMORE's Hampshire home and the business premises of 'JJ Services' , registered address Sutton, SURREY - on the SURREY/MET border. Evidence was found of illegal access to the Police National Computer (PNC) and two other suspects were investigated - one was a civilian worker at a MET police station. The other, retired MET officer Alan King, had his private investigator premises in London searched and his home in Coulsdon, SURREY.

Apr 03  OPERATION MOTORMAN investigators briefed MET officers on their evidence that PNC information had been accessed by WHITTAMORE associates.  The MET then started preliminary investigations, prior to establishing their own formal Operation GLADE.  Also in April 03, Bob QUICK left the MET for his new appointment as Deputy Chief Constable of SURREY Police.

May 03  ICO investigators gave the MET further detailed update presentations on OPERATION MOTORMAN and evidence uncovered for use in Operation GLADE. The unsorted MOTORMAN Files continued to be organised and compiled into an electronic database.

Aug 03  OPERATION GLADE officially commenced - this MET investigation was restricted to only some of the PNC offences uncovered by MOTORMAN.

2003 - 04 Controversially, OPERATION MOTORMAN refrained from interviewing any journalists.  OPERATION GLADE interviewed only seven journalists; none were prosecuted.  More missed opportunities.

Oct 04  Bob QUICK promoted to Chief Constable, SURREY Police.

Apr 05 OPERATION GLADE investigation concluded in convictions of John BOYALL, Steve WHITTAMORE, ex-MET officer Alan King and MET civilian worker Paul Marshall after guilty pleas.  Via prosecutions preparations, copies of the MOTORMAN Files remained in the possession of the MET and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The ICO retained their own MOTORMAN database and the original hard copy evidence.

Just a few weeks later, members of the royal household began to suspect their phone messages were being intercepted by NotW.  Their suspicions were raised with MET Counter-Terrorism/Royalty Protection - the command headed by Andy HAYMAN. Dec 05 the resultant covert investigation started - OPERATION CARYATID.

Apparently, the MET failed to make any connection between CARYATID and the MOTORMAN or GLADE investigations, despite NotW featuring so largely in all three operations.

8 Aug 06  OPERATION CARYATID raided the London home and attempted to raid the NotW Wapping office of royal correspondent Clive GOODMAN. Simultaneously, Glenn MULCAIRE was also arrested and a large quantitiy of material seized from his London home and from business premises in Sutton, SURREY.

CARYATID established extremely narrow parameters solely to inform 4 priority categories of people named in MULCAIRE's notebooks and defined as victims - royal, politicians, police and national security.  Even so not all were informed, including Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.  MULCAIRE's information gathered about the Dowler family was undiscovered in his notebooks, and stored by the MET in bin bags.  Yet another opportunity missed.

Nov 06  GOODMAN and MULCAIRE convicted.

2007  Gordon Taylor negotiations on his settlement with NotW.  His lawyer, Mark Lewis, gained a crucial court decision ordering diclosure of all relevant material held by:
MET (from MULCAIRE and OPERATION CARYATID)
CPS Crown Prosecution Service (limited material from OPERATION CARYATID)
ICO (from OPERATION MOTORMAN)

It seems that all evidence of the Dowler hackings was still left overlooked in this disclosure search process.

Mar 08  Bob QUICK left SURREY Police for new post at the MET as Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations (Counter-Terrorism, Cabinet and Royal Protection).  It is not apparent if he was briefed on OPERATION CARYATID and its implications for royal, national security and senior politicians' protection. And if not, why not.

Apr 08  Craig DENHOLM left SURREY Police for his new post as MET Commander working directly with Assistant Commissioner John YATES.

June 09  Craig DENHOLM left MET and returned to SURREY Police for promotion to Deputy Chief Constable.

July 09  John YATES did his one-day assessment to decide that re-examining OPERATION CARYATID unused evidence was unnecessary.  Questions are still unanswered as to whether or not DENHOLM informed YATES what he knew, and his '02 meetings with NotW when they had admitted Milly Dowler's mobile phone was hacked.  And if not, why not.

Also in July, the CPS undertook its short, parallel consideration of its limited CARYATID material and supportively agreed with YATES that no re-investigation was justified.

The Dowler evidence in bin bags of MULCAIRE material continued to be overlooked.

Aug 09  YATES instructed CARYATID material to be collated and (for the first time) entered into a searchable database.  This work took months

2010  Civil litigations, Select Committee evidence and other revelations increasingly rendered NotW's 'one rogue reporter' defence untenable.

Jan 2011 MET announced the start of the OPERATION WEETING investigation into phone-hacking.

Apr 2011  Sally and Bob Dowler are finally informed by OPERATION WEETING that their (and their murdered daughter's) phone mesages had been intercepted. 

Apr 2012  The Culture, Media & Sports Select Committee reported that John YATES "told us that the eventual number of additional victims who were contacted as a result of the supposedly more vigorous investigation in 2009 was just eight." (para 259)

Inexplicably - and unforgivably - this was more than nine years after SURREY Police knew of the Milly Dowler phone hacking.

There may yet be legal repercussions for SURREY.  They are mentioned twice in court rulings of the 'Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation'.  The Generic Particulars of Claim (the agreed basis for all current and future litigation) states that NotW journalists  "had admitted to Surrey Police in April 2002 that the First Defendant (News Group Newspapers) had unlawfully accessed Milly Dowler's voicemail messages."

Plus, Mr Justice Vos has adressed another ruling to the MET on processes for disclosures to claimants.  Vos ordered the Met to disclose to claimants relevant documents, computer data and other material - including that of

the Respondent (The Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis), the First Defendant (News Group Newspapers),  Clive Goodman and the Surrey Police.

Grouped together in this way, they look a motley crew...

Related Posts
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 1: Questions Still Unanswered
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 3: A Short Postscript
Hackgate for Beginners
Surrey Police and the Hacking of Milly Dowler's Phone
Bloggerheads - News of the World: 110% certainty, the remainder fact

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

The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 1: Questions Still Unanswered

Here's the first part of a re-examination of the Milly Dowler phone hacking from a regular contributor.  Part 1 looks at the background to Dowler hackings and highlights some early warning signs, particularly in the interplay between the Metropolitan Police Service and Surrey Police.  Part 2 considers points at which specific evidence of the Dowler family as victims of News of the World 'dark arts' practices remained overlooked for almost a decade.

1999  Operation Nigeria - This was a Metropolitan Police Service (MET) covert operation (into the murder of Daniel Morgan) which bugged the premises of a private investigator, Jonathan Rees, in Thornton Heath, SURREY.  It eavesdropped on evidence of corrupt practices by private investigators, MET police officers and journalists. Three private investigators implicated were John GUNNING, John BOYALL and Glenn MULCAIRE (more on these below). 

Subsequently, two MET officer associates of Rees were convicted in a long-term operation into police corruption in South East London - one of the investigating officers was then Detective Superintendent John YATES. Simultaneously, and also investigating MET corruption allegations, the Head of MET Professional Standards Department was Andy HAYMAN. When YATES moved on to a different post, he was replaced by Bob QUICK.

In 2000, Bob QUICK wrote a report on the increasing dangers of journalists corrupting police officers, with suspect private investigators often acting as brokers. QUICK's report was submitted to the Head of the MET Professional Standards Department, Andy HAYMAN (see page 5 of Quick's Leveson statement).

This context demonstrates how, from 1999 onwards, key senior officers at the MET were aware of the potential for a corrupt nexus of private investigators, police and newspaper journalists. Self-evidently, YATES, HAYMAN and QUICK were sensitised to these kinds of corrupt 'dark arts' - the modus operandi was already on their radar.

Jan 02  Operation REPROOF commenced.  It was a Devon and Cornwall investigation into illicit data access by corrupt officers, procured by suspect private investigators nationwide - including John BOYALL (implicated in Operation Nigeria). 

Feb-Mar 02 Operation REPROOF contacted the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) re perceived data offences; the catalyst for initiating Operation MOTORMAN.

Devon and Cornwall Police also informed several constabularies of evidence pointing to potential corruption in their respective forces. One force - in addition to the MET - informed of suspected corrupt officers was SURREY Police.

21st Mar 02  Milly Dowler disappears from Walton-on Thames, SURREY.  The following timeline (where *asterisked*) is based on that given to the Leveson Inquiry
* 25th Mar 02  SURREY Police apply legal authority to "preserve" Milly Dowler's mobile phone voicemail messages.  There is no evidence that her voicemail was acessed by the News of the World (NotW) prior to this.
*  10.57  Milly's PIN number was re-set by Mercury, thus dis-enabling Milly's own PIN.
*  15.19  Mercury re-set the PIN again - no explanation has been given for this anomaly as to why this second Mercury re-set was necessary.  A first download of Milly's voicemails messages was undertaken.

Here there is a disturbing discrepancy.  Instead of enlisting technical assistance from Mercury, SURREY Police say they engaged a specialist forensic phone data company to do the download but this attempt was unsuccessful.  The un-named company deny undertaking any such work (pp9-10).

This contradiction has yet to be resolved, as are the questions of why a private company was decided on, which company exactly, and on whose recommendation.

Late Mar/ early Apr 02 News of the World (NotW) commission private investigator Steve WHITTAMORE to obtain personal information about the Dowler family. The tasking can be found in the Operation MOTORMAN Blue Book.

A NotW journalist, Sarah Arnold, sought the home address of the Dowlers and relevant ex-directory (XD) telephone numbers. The XD number procurement was subcontracted by Whittamore to John GUNNING (implicated in Operation Nigeria).

*  12th Apr 02  A female from NotW telephoned an employment agency in the West Mercia region, purporting to be Milly Dowler's mother.

*  13th Apr 02  The employment agency was 'beseiged' by NotW reporters.  NotW phoned SURREY Police several times that day, asking to speak urgently to the Milly Dowler investigation team.  SURREY Police telephoned NotW back and were informed by NotW that they had obtained Milly's mobile phone number and PIN from her school friends.

An either/or scenario needs considering here. Did NotW use Milly's original PIN - obtained from her friends - to access voicemails between (at the earliest) 24th March and (at the latest) 26th March when that PIN was re-set? If so, NotW then waited until 12th April to inform Surrey Police.

Or, did NotW acess her voicemails post-26th March, ie AFTER the two PIN re-sets?  How was this possible and who did the hacking?

Or BOTH?

*  17th Apr 02 Surrey Police do a second download of voicemail messages

*  20th Apr 02 NotW email SURREY Police and offer their recordings of Milly's voicemails. Later the same day, NotW phoned SURREY Police and played back Milly's voicemails over the phone.

*  23rd Apr 02  Detective Constable John Lyndon of SURREY Police logged his suspicions that NotW had been hacking Milly Dowler's mobile phone voicemails.

There is at this point an important discrepancy regarding meetings between NotW and SURREY Police.  As reported in The Independent, senior news staff of NotW met twice in April 02 with SURREY Police investigating officers, Craig DENHOLM and Stuart Gibson.

In these meetings, NotW made no secret of the fact that they had caused Milly's mobile phone to be hacked.

The Independent's report also states that minutes of one of the meetings exist still in the un-used Milly Dowler evidence files.  There is no mention of these April meetings in the SURREY Police timeline evidenced to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee in 2012, nor in MET evidence given to the Leveson Inquiry in May 2012.

Mid-April 02 seems to be when SURREY Police knew definitively that Milly Dowler's voicemails had been hacked by, or at the behest of, NotW.  Arguably, this is the critical point at which action to stop NotW dubious practices could have been taken.

So, hacking of Milly's mobile was known to SURREY Police. In addition, Steve WHITTAMORE's files contained evidence of NotW's procurement of the numbers of Milly Dowler family's phones - awaiting discovery by Operation MOTORMAN.

Tomorrow, part 2 tracks the subsequent actions, inactions and missed opprtunities which conspired to keep the Dowler family ignorant of NotW wrongdoing...

Related Posts
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 2: Discrepancies And Delays
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 3: A Short Postscript
Hackgate for Beginners
Surrey Police and the Hacking of Milly Dowler's Phone
Bloggerheads - News of the World: 110% certainty, the remainder fact

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

Some Intriguing Hackgate "Known Unknowns"

Another article by a regular contributor.

...There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we know know we don't know...

Some loose ends: The Leveson Inquiry has not concluded its formal evidence hearings having tied up all the frayed ends. In fact, it would be more accurate to say the Inquiry has not even concluded.  Dacre and Associated Newspapers have rowed back from their challenge to Lord Justice Leveson over prima facie wrongdoing evidenced in Operation Motorman - see their response to Leveson's Ruling - and have thus evaded the threat of Motorman Hearings in August. Yet, more submissions on partial release of Motorman information are expected from Core Participant Victims' counsel and any relevant responses should be completed by September 10th. These, together with the return of Sue Akers to update on police investigations, point to at least one more Hearing in mid-September.

And there are several more 'known unknowns'...

The Motorman Files: It is not explicitly known whether the Motorman material now forms part of the evidence currently being investigated.  However, recent charges specify timescales similar to Steve Whittamore's illegal activities and Sue Akers has made reference to evidence utilised from "previous investigations".  A limited amount of information is known from the Motorman Files, but further unknown lines of enquiry could come from the 17, 000 lines of information estimated by Alex Owens, (para 5.10), or 13,343 lines according to the Information Commissioner, 5,025 clear breaches and 6,330 probable breaches of law (pp 56-57' Robert Jay's Opening Submission Nov 14th 2011)

Glenn Mulcaire was ordered by the UK Supreme Court to disclose the names of those who commissioned him. These names will be disclosed only to victims' legal representatives - and to the Metropolitan Police Service.  It seems clear that the Met are then able to use this information in files for charging decisions which are referred to the Crown Prosecution Servive (CPS).  We do not know if those commissioning Mulcaire include any of those journalists already arrested or charged, but we do know that there are 28 legible 'corner names' in the Mulcaire documents.

The Mulcaire Notebooks comprise c. 11,000 pages, 2,266 taskings, those 28 legible corner names, 5,795 named potential victims, 690 audio recordings, 586 voicemail messages and an unquantified amount of computer material.

According to the Metropolitan Police, News International hacking operation had certainly begun by 2002, Milly Dowler being the first named victim. We, however, have recently seen a document which emanates from May 2001. The police believe that it continued until at least 2009. This belief is not derived from an analysis of the Mulcaire notebooks, which we know were seized back in 2006.

- Mr Jay, Opening 14th Nov 2011, pp86-88

So, it appears that there is unknown, additional corroborating evidence that post-dates Mulcaire's 2006 arrest. This must mean that there are as-yet unknown alleged offences between 2006-2009, for which Mulcaire (and possibly alleged conspirators) may or may not have recently been arrested and/or charged under Operation Weeting.

It is not known in detail what the Operation Nigeria material may contain that is relevant specifically to Hackgate.  It is though known that it is amongst the 750,000 documents in connection to Daniel Morgan's murder, and there is substantial other evidence including audio recordings. Surprisingly not all of these audio recordings have yet been transcribed, according to Tom Watson (House of Commons, 29th February 2012)

It is though known that ALL of the evidence relating to the murder of Daniel Morgan - which includes the Operation Nigeria material - is undergoing a forensic review by the Met, and possibly the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). The use of the term 'forensic' is nicely ambivalent as - technically- it encompasses establishing evidence to the standard necessary for court proceedings.  This follows the collapse at trial of the fifth investigation into Daniel Morgan's violent death, and publication of the official Report into how and why the trial collapsed.  (Confusingly, by a strange coincidences, one of the counsel at trial was 'Jonathan Rees QC')

The Cook/Hames Surveillance:  Two people amongst those arrested in 2012 have previously been reported to have connection or involvement with the obtaining of information and surveillance of Dave Cook and Jacqui Hames in 2002.  Both targets were then serving Met police officers, and Dave Cook at the time was an investigating officer on the fourth investigation into Daniel Morgan's murder.  Two others, Alex Marunchak of News International and Sid Fillery, are not known to have been arrested for any Hackgate allegations. Jonathan Rees, Fillery's former business partner, was in prison at the time of the possible conspiracy.

However, it is now known formally that the Cook/Hames surveillance, and the subsequent confrontation at Scotland Yard with Rebekah Brooks, IS being investigated. This is acknowledged by the Metropolitan Police here (Q28), which is an informative read.

Additionally, included are extensive questions on Daniel Morgan's murder (Q40 Daniel Morgan). These questions are not answered publically, presumably so as not to prejudice the forensic review or any possible future arrests.

A Senior Met officer has apparently made a court appearance in relation to an unknown prosecution.  As there are court-imposed reporting restrictions imposed till October, there is no public knowledge who he (or indeed she...) might be.  One national journalist observed on Twitter, following a list of CPS Operation Weeting charges on July 24th: 

and finally... charges against a quite senior Met Police officer remain secret #openjusticemyarse

The same day another national journalist, whose specialisms include writing on Hackgate, tweeted

A very senior police officer is accused of breaking the law in an area which I cover, but I can't tell you who they are due to a court order...
...But I can tell you it sounds very interesting. Roll on October.

Obviously, these tweets may be merely a plausible coincidence of timing and could be utterly unrelated to Hackgate.

The most recent Operation Tuleta arrests of named and unnamed Sun journalists have been accompanied by Met statements to the effect that they

... relate to a suspected conspiracy involving the gathering of data from stolen mobile phones and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately.

It is unknown whether the mobile phones involved were allegedly stolen at random, or whether the alleged conspiracy targeted specific mobile phones, potentially stolen to order.  Sue Akers third appearance at the Leveson Inquiry made a short reference to further Operation Tuleta initiatives which may range nationwide.

New allegations/News Corp:  Lastly there is the known unknown of new allegations of wrongdoing being countered by Michael Silverleaf QC on behalf of News Corporation.

The details of the allegations, which could be used to seek punitive damages, should be kept from the public unless they are approved at a Sept. 7 hearing and added to the victims’ so- called generic claims, Judge Geoffrey Vos said

Silverleaf said, "The claims outline “generalized activities which we think are unsustainable...They may change the approach we are taking to the case."  These new allegations could well be connected to the new information, alleged by victims' legal representatives, that

News Corp failed for months to disclose in civil litigation an executive’s e-mail with instructions on hacking the mobile-phone voice mail of a “well-known person. 

How far these 'known unknowns' might reveal themselves over the next few months will continue to make Hackgate very engaging.

Related Posts
Hackgate for Beginners
Where Now For The Motorman Files?
Hackgate - Major Upcoming Events


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

Where Now For The Motorman Files?

Another piece by a regular contributor speculating on the future for the Operation Motorman files:

The latest Ruling given by Lord Justice Leveson is his THIRD on Operation Motorman - it just won't go away.  (For more on the genesis of Operation Motorman, see here) 

The 1st Ruling on Op Motorman was dated 2nd Dec '11, and set out conditions of confidentiality and security imposed on Core Participants' access to electronic spreadsheet copies of the 'Motorman Files'.  The same day, Leveson held private hearings to address concerns from Core Participants on the assumptions the Inquiry could agree regarding the Motorman Files as evidence of wrongdoing.

The 2nd Motorman Ruling was 11th June '12. It addressed arguments on the validity for the Inquiry of releasing the names of the commissioning journalists to ascertain if their employers had subsequently reprimanded, disciplined or alternatively rewarded them with promotion. Leveson resolved that counsel for victims could present evidence from the Motorman Files only for those journalists still continuously employed. this restricted release of Motorman evidence would be names-redacted  for the public domain. Leveson proved loathe to publicise journalists' names as, he said, "I did not intend to prejudice the ongoing criminal investigation".

The 3rd Ruling, dated 11th July '12, specifically concerns Associated Newspapers submissions which challenge Leveson's assumed acknowledgement of prima facie illegalities contained in the Motorman Files. Lord Justice Leveson has, as a consequence, said that he is now prepared to make public Motorman data relating to Associated in order to resolve the contended issues.  There may be Public hearings in August for the Inquiry to deal with this sticky subject.  (For analysis, see here)

A trawl back shows that Motorman has dominated a great deal of Inquiry witness evidence, legal submission and opening statements in every Module.  Throughout, newspaper groups whose journalists are named in the Motorman Files have argued that the evidence so old, dating back to 2000-03, and could not possibly have any relevance to the current Inquiry.  Yet the Motorman Files contain, for example, evidence that Whittamore was commissioned to target the phone numbers of family members of Milly Dowler, in 2002.  Operation Baronet is the investigation into the in/actions of Surrey Police officers who, in 2002, were aware of interceptions of Milly Dowler's voicemail by the News of the World.  Glenn MULCAIRE's hacking activities for News of the World date back at least as far as 2002 if not earlier. Obviously the length of time that has passed has not precluded other police enquiries.

And wait up a minute..... what was that again? in the 2nd Motorman Ruling? Leveson saying he did not want to "prejudice the ongoing criminal investigation"? Why would he say that specifically in relation to OPERATION MOTORMAN?  Might it be that Motorman is being re-examined?  So many questions, so many loose ends...

One interesting aspect which might be worth some speculation is what has happened since Operation Motorman.  It certainly is remarkable how several 'enquiry agents'  quietly resumed working for national titles following conviction - remaining loyally silent and not implicating newspapers who commissioned them. 

Whittamore's associate John BOYALL's  premises (Data Research) were also reported as raided for evidence by Operation Motorman. 'Data Research Ltd' is dormant but still in existence, based in Surrey, but BOYALL is not listed as director - Christopher DEWSE is, another 'enquiry agent' named in the Motorman Files.

BOYALL is listed as director of 8 different companies, including the very similarly-named 'L.R.I. Research Limited', 'Legal Resource and Intelligence Research Limited' and 'Liberty Resources and Intelligent Research Limited'.

For more on evasive legal strategies of business name-changes and Jonathan REES, see 'Southern Investigations: What's in a Name?'

Glenn MULCAIRE was re-employed by News International after his release from prison, even though Mulcaire's company 'Nine Consultancy Ltd' had been dissolved in Feb '06. But Mulcaire (aka 'Alexander', aka 'Paul Williams') had another company called 'Nine Consultancy UK Ltd' too, not dissolved until 2007.

Yet another Mulcaire company 'Eight Consultancy UK Ltd' (Company No. 06280986) wasn't dissolved until 2009. Presumably, this was the conduit for his invoicing.

'JJ Services' is obscured amongst similar names in the Companies House database. However, within a month after the Operation Motorman raid, Whittamore's wife Georgina (resident at an address in Surrey) incorporated a business called 'JJ Information Ltd'. It is therefore possible that it was this new company that was open for business as usual and still used by Express titles as late as 2010.  Associated Newspapers continued to use Whittamore, according to Paul Dacre's witness evidence to the Inquiry (p 49): "But you know in 2007 we brought the shutters down and banned absolutely the use of all these -- of Whittamore enquiry agencies."  Note the plural.

So, how far has Motorman information been circulated? How much is already in the public domain? Well, a surprising amount...

The ICO have released relevant documentation to selected victims of Glenn Mulcaire's phone hacking, eg Gordon Taylor.

A Freedom of Information request made by Tom Watson MP in Feb 2010 brought some informative (though heavily redacted), searchable material into public scrutiny including the kinds of information targeted, such as criminal records checks, vehicle, friends & family numbers. 

The ICO says the Motorman Files were also used in "the Southampton prosecutions" (anybody..?), and were inspected by the Chair of the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee.

Alex Owens, former Senior Investigating Officer of Operation Motorman, provided the Leveson Inquiry with the full Motorman Files.

Core Participants have been provided with copies of Alex Owens' Motorman Files data, under strict conditions of confidentiality.

Guido Fawkes leaked a partially redacted version of the Motorman Blue Book on his blog (servers located outside of UK).

Several news organisations have had access to the full unredacted Motorman Files, resulting in reports eg The Guardian, The Independent, and ITV.

The Leveson Inquiry has required the ICO to hand over the original Motorman Files in their hard copy form.

Leveson's 1st Ruling also reveals another striking recipient of the Motorman Files: 

I also make it clear that I understand that the Metropolitan Police have been provided with copies of these documents by the Information Commissioner for the purposes of their inquiries.

Maybe 63yr old Steve Whittamore (Director ID : 908886016 Year of Birth: 1949, wife resident in Surrey) might have additional information of interest to the Metropolitan Police Service? Perhaps the Met indeed want the Motorman Files to assist  live investigations?  Might the Met be thinking of interviewing more journalists,and perhaps this explains their extending of interest further than just News International titles? Using information NOT provided by News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee? 

How much longer before the Operation Motorman dam bursts?

So many questions, so many loose ends...

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