Hackgate - Elveden: Murdoch Or King Cnut?

The latest from my regular contributor.

Noticed the upsurge in Elveden arrests and charges recently?  After a marked hiatus, it's like a dam has burst.

It started as a trickle which became a stream (Sue Akers) -

Operation Elveden began on 20 June 2011 when News International disclosed material to the Metropolitan Police Service that indicated that police officers had allegedly been receiving cash/cheque payments from journalists from the News of the World for the provision of confidential information. 

But its original 2011 terms of reference widened as the investigatory trickle built into a torrent throughout 2012 of arrests of (mainly Sun) journalists, public officials, prison and police officers.  2013 has so far seen the first Elveden conviction and imprisonment (April Casburn) and a wave of charges.  Both the number and nature of arrests are remarkable. (Hat Tip to Martin Hickman for the best lists of arrests/charges/etc).

Amongst News International arrests are royal editor(s), editor(s), sundry senior executives, managing editor(s), news editor, crime editor, executive editor, deputy editor, chief reporter, deputy news editor, defence editor, chief foreign correspondent etc.  These are not low-level roles or freelancers cutting corners.

Police arrests are also worth analysis: to date, no less than FOUR from MET Specialist Crimes & Special Operations alone, plus two senior officers from the City of London force.  The most recent (see here, Daily Mail) is a former Assistant Commissioner and thus the first (but perhaps not the last) ACPO rank arrest for suspected leaking of unauthorised information.  So police arrests are creeping up the 'food chain' too.  Little wonder that Sean O'Neill of the Times wryly commented on the subject

Down at Scotland Yard some of the command team are in the greenhouse throwing big bricks #elveden
— Sean O'Neill (@TimesCrime) March 5, 2013

Certainly Elveden is (so far) the biggest threat to parent company News Corp (see here) regarding potential corporate and US prosecutions.


And there is a detectable sense of urgency about recent News Corp manoevring - closing their phone hacking compensation scheme, frantic settling of as many civil actions as possible in a rearguard action to prevent further revelations in open court.  It's almost as if defensive embankments have crumbled and legal arguments on admissibility of key evidence (for example, email data pools) have been decided so the upstream log-jam delaying court cases has been prised wide open.

The timing of Rupert Murdoch's reported pep talk to arrested journalists is interesting too (Guardian)

It is understood the News Corporation chairman and chief executive and Sun proprietor met with the journalists on Wednesday at News International's Wapping headquarters in east London to allay concerns that their careers and futures have been left in limbo as they continue to be rebailed without knowing if they are going to be charged..... Sources say Murdoch vowed to continue to pay the arrestees' legal fees and offer whatever support was needed. However he said he could not, for legal reasons, tell them what would happen with regard to their employment if any were charged and found guilty.

Whatever the flood of recent developments, we may know more about the consequences quite quickly.

Tomorrow (Friday March 8th) is going to be a busy day for Operation Elveden at the Central Criminal Court (aka the Old Bailey)

Court No 1, sitting from 9.30am (Court Listing) 

THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE FULFORD    

Plea and Case Management    

U20130197 Alan TIERNEY    

(Surrey Police officer)

U20130198  Richard TRUNKFIELD 

(Prison Operational Support Officer at HMP Woodhill, a high security category A men's prison)

Southwark Crown Court Case    

For Preliminary Hearing    

U20130199  FLATTLEY (MET police officer)  &

WHEELER (Sun journalist)

NOT BEFORE 10:00 am    

Plea and Case Management    

U20130210 

Rebekah BROOKS (the Sun)

John KAY  (the Sun)  & 

Bettina JORDAN-BARBER  (Ministry of Defence official)

U20130201

Andy COULSON (News of the World) &

Clive GOODMAN (News of the World)

It looks increasingly like Rupert Murdoch can't play King Cnut much longer and things aren't going swimmingly.


Related Articles
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
Hackgate - "Newsdesk Here, Kelvin Speaking..."
Hackgate - Andre Baker - A Hackgate Footnote?

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

Hackgate - Dear Surrey Police

Another article from my regular contributor.

Dear Surrey Police,
There are eight senior, Deputy and Chief Constables in England currently under investigation.  Count them - EIGHT - for a variety of allegations: using undue influence, corruption, misuse of public funds, gross misconduct, even lying to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Well okay,  I grant you, one is appealing being sacked for gross misconduct, the first since 1977.

True, that has attracted press coverage.  But only because of its rarity value.  We're much more used to senior officers being allowed to quietly retire on full pension to avoid disciplinary action - like this one, or these.

Sometimes though, you get things right. You did interview Jimmy Savile about alleged sexual offences.  And when you decided there was enough evidence, you were prepared to follow that up with a referral to Crown Prosecution Service.  Sadly, the CPS decided insufficient evidence so no charge could be brought. There were others though who didn't voice their suspicions and have attracted criticism for their inaction - such as this tweet:

No, sorry, Janet. Sorry Esther. I don't buy it. If you knew and you did nothing, you're part of the problem you condemn.
— Louis Barfe (@LFBarfe) October 4, 2012

So credit where it's due - you did investigate.

Because who doesn't loathe such hateful crimes against children, doubly victimised by crass abuse of power and smothered by walls of silence?  Who would not feel like weeping for their powerlessness?  Unless it were Milly Dowler and you knew about that phone hacking.

And you knew.  It's not even in dispute.  The News of the World "admitted to Surrey Police in April 2002... (it) had unlawfully accessed Milly Dowler's voicemail messages."  News International has conceded that to victims taking civil action.  It is the main foundation of the criminal prosecutions too, of course - conspiracy unlawfully to intercept communications.  Those charged in relation to Milly Dowler are Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Greg Miskiw, Glenn Mulcaire and Neville Thurlbeck.  Are you seriously hoping no-one will notice?  Do you really think no-one will wonder who in Surrey Police was told?  Can you honestly believe nobody will ask why nothing was done to prevent phone hacking continuing? The next victims after Milly herself were her family - and maybe you could have prevented it.

Granted, you did invite the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate.

And that's the last we heard of that.  Doubtless the IPCC will kick the can further down the road, and we'll be told it can't report till the News of the World prosecutions conclude - when might that be? 2014? 2015?  But why?  By that time, we will have guessed that no charges will be made.  And we will definitely have clocked if anyone were to be allowed to quietly retire with a full pension and avoid disciplinary action.

No, sorry, Surrey.  Sorry IPCC.   I don't buy it. If you knew and you did nothing, you're part of the problem you condemn.

There are Questions Still Unanswered, and continuing Discrepancies and Delays.

The Leveson Inquiry has acted like a searchlight. Regardless of its outcomes, it's served the public well, giving the opportunity to watch the process.  Whatever its Report recommends, the open scrutiny is necessary if the battered and bruised public confidence in policing is ever to start healing.  Two Prime Ministers spelled out the 'Dowler Test'.  David Cameron said,  "... bear in mind who we're doing this for, why we're here in the first place, and that's the real test. If the families like the Dowlers feel this has really changed the way they would have been treated, we would have done our job properly."

Gordon Brown said

...the question (is) that the Dowlers put to us: how can we defend the privacy of a family who at their moment of greatest grief and at a time when they're at their most vulnerable have their privacy invaded by the press in a way that splits the family apart and makes everybody in that family suspicious of each other, and particularly so since it's been done by unlawful means, which include telephone tapping.... I think Lord Justice Leveson put it: 'who will guard the guardians?' was a question which he wanted to address. I will say: who will defend the defenceless?

Who guards the guardians?  We do.  All of us.  The private citizens, public servants, our MPs, the bloggers, investigative journalists, the armchair Leveson viewers, Hacked Off and the pissed off - asking our questions and putting your integrity under our spotlight.

And we are watching what you do next.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr Reg Contributor

c/o Brown Moses

Related Articles
Hackgate - The John Boyall Files
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

Hackgate - Major Upcoming Events

Another quality article from a regular contributor, this time on what we can expect in the coming months.

As the Leveson Inquiry moves towards its conclusion of Module 3 (the Press and Politicians), there is almost a sense of its role as 'centre of attention' is beginning to devolve and disperse into other arenas as multiple court cases start, new ones are scheduled, imminent decisions made on charges, and more arrests are possible. Here is a round-up of some key Hackgate events to look out for.

Rebekah Brooks: sequencing charges and court appearances

Brooks first appearance at Crown Court happened on June 22nd.  Whilst each of her co-defendants are charged with a single related offence,  Rebekah Brooks is charged with 3 counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.  These charges refer to allegations of removing and concealing evidence of phone hacking at News International titles.  In addition, Brooks is waiting to hear if she is to be charged with offences under Operation Weeting (phone hacking) and Operation Elvedon (corruption of police and/or public officials). Scheduling  current or future court appearances will therefore be complex

Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, should know by the end of the summer whether she is to face further charges in relation to allegations of phone hacking and illegal payments to public officials.

The Crown Court ordered a plea and case management hearing for September 26th.

Glenn Mulcaire Supreme Court decision due any day

Glenn Mulcaire has case ongoing at the UK Supreme Court, against being ordered by the Court of Appeal to reveal the names of those commissioning him at News International.  Legally, the case is very complex. Mulcaire's legal team have argued that he does not have to reveal any information that is self-incriminating, but that is not true of phone hacking which might be legally deemed 'intellectual property'. If it is held that some intercepted phone messages were commercially sensitive and contained intellectual property, Mulcaire's case fails.  The Supreme Court hearing was May 7th and 8th, which resulted in Mulcaire losing the appeal.  It was however argued by his defence that the Supreme Court Decision was flawed. Mulcaire's defence team were given a brief period of a few days to prepare and present their counter-arguments, but this period was extended to take account of the cluster of May, June and Jubilee bank holidays.  To date, the Mulcaire case is stilled listed as 'Awaiting Judgement'.

Charging decisions due under Operation Weeting

Batches of case files have been sent in June to the Crown Prosecution Service for charging decisions.

Batch 1  11 June, relating to five journalists - (RIPA) Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000)

Batch 2  18 June, two journalists, RIPA

Batch 3  21 June, four journalists, RIPA

Batch 4  22 June, one  journalist and "one other individual", RIPA

Charging decisions on these June referrals will be made in due course.

Andy Coulson's appeal to require News International to pay his legal costs

This Appeal Court case should be scheduled soon, following Coulson being given leave to appeal on May 8th '12

Coulson's appeal centres on a severance agreement with News Group Newspapers on 26 January 2007, two days before he resigned as editor of the News of the World... (A previous court hearing) "ruled in December that a clause in the agreement covered only Coulson's "lawful duties" as editor and that allegations of criminal activity fell outside the scope of the contract."

High stakes indeed for Andy Coulson as he awaits more charging decisions under Operation Weeting and Operation Elvedon.

Andy Coulson: Procurator Fiscal to decide on trial for perjury

Coulson has already been charged with perjury in Operation Rubicon (Strathclyde Police investigation into the Tommy Sheridan/ News International perjury trial). Under Scots law, a decision will have to be made in the near future as to whether Coulson will stand trial following this charge.

Contempt of the House: Hinton, Crone and Myler

On 30 April '12, the House of Commons Select Committee (Culture, Media and Sport) published its report 'News International and Phone Hacking'.

It concluded that Les Hinton, Colin Myler and Tom Crone all misled the Select Committee with their evidence.

This resulted in a Commons debate (Column 990 onwards) on 22 May.  On behalf of the CMS Select Committee, its Chair John Whittindale moved that the House refer its outcomes to the Standards and Privileges Committee for appropriate action. Whittingdale's motion was carried.

Although Committees rarely take evidence on oath, the House of Commons 2011 guidance for witnesses giving evidence to Select Committees is clear. It states that witnesses are expected to answer fully, honestly and truthfully, and that "deliberately attempting to mislead a committee is a contempt of the House”.

In theory, contempt of the House could be punished by imprisonment or fine though these have not been imposed for many years. It is therefore arguable whether the ability to impose such sanctions should be deemed to have lapsed into disuse.  An alternative approbation is to be  summoned in person to the bar of the House, to be admonished by the Speaker.

The whole situation is going to be difficult for the Standards and Privileges Committee to resolve. Firstly, Hinton, Myler and Crone continue to deny contempt and stand by their testimony.  Secondly, Hinton and Myler are both now resident in the United States.  Parliament would naturally be loathe to see any - or all three - refuse to attend the House when summoned for admonishment, exposing Parliamentary powers as toothless.  Nevertheless, the Standards and Privileges Committee is duty bound to respond the the House's wishes at some point soon.

Ray Adams and allegations of corruption

On 31 May '12, the Metropolitan Police Service concluded its review of alleged police corruption which had impeded the original investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.  It then made public its conclusion that there was no evidence that corruption shielded the killers of Stephen Lawrence, and that the force had given all relevant evidence to the 1998 Macpherson inquiry.

The Met released the findings of its review on Thursday, which began in March after allegations about corruption in the Lawrence case made in the Guardian and Independent. The claims centre on former Met commander Ray Adams, who was a senior officer in the south London area where Stephen was murdered, and former detective sergeant John Davidson, who was a senior detective on the first, flawed investigation into the racist killing. Adams and Davidson had been the subjects of internal corruption investigations, after which neither officer faced disciplinary or criminal charges. They retired on full police pensions and denied any wrongdoing. Adams, who left the force because of a bad back, went on to work at a Rupert Murdoch-owned company, NDS, in a senior security role.

The next day, despite the Met review conclusions, Home Secretary Theresa May made an announcement: 

A spokesman for the Home Office said: “The Home Secretary has asked for a QC-led review of the work the Metropolitan Police has undertaken into investigating claims of corruption in the original Stephen Lawrence murder investigation.

To date, no timescale has been given for the new review process.

Operation Baronet, the Surrey Police investigation into the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone

Assistant Chief Constable of Surrey Police, Jerry Kirkby, was due to conclude a final report for submission to Levson by the end of May.  A request to the Leveson Inquiry for an update resulted in the following response on 20 June:

The Inquiry is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act, as detailed here - http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/faqs/ - but will endeavour to conduct proceedings in an open and transparent manner.  Documents and information will be made available on the website during the course of the Inquiry, as appropriate and as they are referred to in the hearings.  Therefore it would not be appropriate for the Inquiry to comment on the questions you raise.

Given Lord Justice Leveson's commitment to transparency, there must be good reason to decline to release information - possibly to avoid prejudicing imminent legal action against those involved and/or failing to take action at the time.  More information on Operation Baronet can be found here.

Interesting times, watch this space...

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

Andy Coulson's Schadenfreude

From Vim on the Something Awful forums:

I now remember reading a story in The Sun many years ago the day or so after Hugh Grant's arrest for solicitation. It was in the showbiz page (Bizarre?), which was then being edited by Andy Coulson.

Basically, The Sun went to town tearing Grant apart, their vendetta seemingly stemming from a (then) recent occasion at a film premier/showbiz event when Grant was asked for a quote by a reporter from The Sun (in fact, it could well have been Coulson himself). Grant apparently said "The Sun? I don't think so" before 'swanning off' with Liz Hurley.

And Coulson wrote in the showbiz page that when news broke of Grant's arrest, he (Coulson) did a little dance in the Sun's office, crying out "There is a God!".



Tonight, I hope Hugh Grant affords himself a little smile and thinks "There is a God"

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

Hackgate for Beginners - The Murder of Daniel Morgan

[Back to Current Police Operations]

In March 1987 Daniel Morgan, a private detective, was murdered in Sydenham in south east London, just as he was reportedly close to revealing police corruption with links to the News of the World.

You might ask why we would want to look at a murder that took place 25 years ago, but it’s important to understand that the collusion between the police and press that’s being uncovered now isn’t just about events that took place in the past few years, but a pattern of corruption that goes back many decades, and that many of the people involved with past corruption are still involved with the Hackgate scandal even now.

After repeated failed police inquiries into the murder which themselves have been mired in corruption the family of Daniel Morgan are still seeking justice, and have spent the past two decades running the Justice 4 Daniel campaign.

Southern Investigations

In 1984 Daniel Morgan and Jonathan Rees set up the detective agency Southern Investigations.  Jonathan Rees is alleged to have had a “network of corrupt police who were involved in widespread criminality and used Southern Investigations as a conduit for drugs and money”, and that Rees “counted many officers as friends. One of his specialities was to use his "friends" in the force to provide information which he sold to tabloid newspapers.”

On the other hand Daniel Morgan’s role “involved him acting as a bailiff or utilising his particular talent for remembering car registration plates and telephone numbers”.

It is believed that at the time of his murder Daniel Morgan was planning to expose police corruption, described by his brother as “police involvement with criminals, involvement with drugs and weapons importation."

More recently, Tom Watson MP alleged in a Commons adjournment debate that Daniel Morgan has approached Alex Muranchak of the News of the World with a story making allegations about police corruption a week before he died, and was offered £40,000 for the story.  He described the relationship between Jonathan Rees and Alex Marunchak as "a close association between Rees and Marunchak ... a relationship that was so close they both had companies registered at the same address".  Watson also stated that "thanks to a Guardian investigation we also know that Southern Investigations paid the debts of Marunchak ".

Alex Marunchak would go on to deny those allegations, as well as other allegations made by Tom Watson.

The death of Daniel Morgan

At 9.30pm on Tuesday March 10^th 1987 Daniel Morgan’s body was discovered next to his BMW in the parking lot of the Golden Lion pub.  An axe, wrapped in Elastoplasts to obscure fingerprints, was protruding at a right angle from his face, his pockets torn open, with notes he had been seen writing missing, but with his wallet and watch still on his body, and he was still holding the two packets of crisps purchased inside the pub.

He had let the Golden Lion pub at 8:55pm after meeting with Jonathan Rees to discuss an issue that was putting pressure on their already fraught relationship.  Rees had claimed he had been robbed while transporting £18,000 for a client of Southern Investigations, Belmont Car Auctions, with at least one moonlighting police officer.  Both Morgan and Belmont Car Auctions believed this was a lie, and Rees and his associates had taken the money for themselves.

At the 1988 inquest into the murder the Southern Investigations accountant Kevin Lennon said that Jonathan Rees had told him “I've got the perfect solution for Daniel's murder. My mates at Catford nick are going to arrange it” and went on to say "He went on to explain to me that if they didn't do it themselves the police would arrange for some person over whom they had some criminal charge pending to carry out Daniel's murder."

The initial police investigation into the murder

Detective Sergeant Sid Fillery at Catford police station was assigned to the case, failing to reveal to his superiors that he had been working for Southern Investigations

At the 1988 inquest Kevin Lennon said Rees wanted Morgan dead after a row: "John Rees explained that, when or after Daniel Morgan had been killed, he would be replaced by a friend of his who was a serving policeman, Detective Sergeant Sid Fillery", and eventually would end up in business with Jonathan Rees at Southern Investigations, recruiting corrupt police officers, and was later convicted for the possession of child pornography.

Sid Fillery and Jonathan Rees would later be arrested in 1987 on suspicion of murder, along with the brothers Glenn and Garry Vian and two Metropolitan police officers, but eventually all of them were released without charge.

Inquiries into the murder

Over the next 20 years five investigations would look into the murder of Daniel Morgan.  The initial investigation into the murder by the Metropolitan Police focused on Sid Fillery and Jonathan Rees, both who denied involvement in the murder.  This was followed by an inquiry by Hampshire Police in 1988 focusing on Jonathan Rees and another man, but the charges were dropped because of a lack of evidence, with the Hampshire inquiry's 1989 report to the Police Complaints Authority stated that "no evidence whatsoever" had been found of police involvement in the murder.  During this period Sid Fillery left the police to join Southern Investigations as Jonathan Rees’ business partner.

In 1999 Operation Nigeria began to investigate Southern Investigations, with bugs being placed inside the Southern Investigations offices by the police.  The operation ceased when Jonathan Rees was recorded conspiring with a corrupt police officer to plant cocaine on an innocent woman in order to discredit her during a custody battle, and in December 2000 he was jailed for seven years.

In 2002-2003 a fourth inquiry began, involving the bugging of a suspect’s car and the home of Glenn Vian.  The investigation obtained evidence that linked a number of individuals to the murder, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution.

The fifth inquiry took place in 2006, headed by Detective Superintendent David Cook was set up in secret after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair declared that the first investigation had been compromised by the involvement of Sid Fillery.

Concerns over connections between Masonic Lodge members and the murder required the 36 police officers involved with the case to state they had never been Freemasons, with Cook describing the murder as being one of the worst kept secrets in south-east London, claiming “a whole cabal of people” knew the identity of at least some of those involved.  He also claimed attempts had been made to smear Daniel Morgan’s character and there had been attempts to link him with Colombian drug dealers.  He identified the main suspects as "white Anglo-Saxons".

Yet again bugs were placed, Jonathan Rees, Sid Fillery, and Glenn and Gary Vian were arrested, along with a builder, James Cook, all on suspicion of murder, plus other related charges.  This time however, the suspects made it to court.

The 2011 Old Bailey trial

The trial was badly handled by the prosecution, with 3 supergrass informers being dismissed as key witnesses, resulting in a stay of prosecution for Sid Fillery and James Cook being discharged. 

In March 2011 the Director of Public Prosecutions abandoned the case and all remaining charges were dropped.  The case had yet to reach the stage where it would look at the murder as it was still dealing with preliminary issues when the prosecution collapsed.  The judge noted the case’s vastness and complexity, and considered that the prosecution had been principled and right to drop the case, but the police had “ample grounds to justify the arrest and prosecution of the defendants”.

A massive amount of evidence had been gathered, over 750,000 documents, with four more crates of evidence being discovered after the trial collapsed. 

Links to the News of the World

After the trial collapsed it was revealed that Jonathan Rees had been working for the News of the World, earning £150,000 supplying illegally obtained information about figures in the public eye.  After serving the prison sentence for perverting the course of justice after the Operation Nigeria inquiry Andy Coulson, then editor of the News of the World, hired Jonathan Rees, and worked regularly with the Sunday and Daily Mirror as well.  Andy Coulson was later hired by David Cameron as director of communications despite warnings about Andy Coulson’s hiring of the convicted criminal Jonathan Rees.

Using a network of corrupt police officers he illegally obtained information on a variety of public figures, including the Royal family, and was also alleged to have commissioned burglaries on behalf of journalists.  However, despite detailed evidence the Metropolitan Police failed to pursue any action against Rees, even to the point of taking the News of the World at their word that Clive Goodman had worked alone when he was convicted for intercepting phone calls from Clarence House.

[Forward to The Leveson Inquiry]
[Index]

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

Operation Varec - The Forgotten Andy Coulson Phone Hacking Investigation

One police operation that was mentioned several times by various witnesses at the Leveson Inquiry was Operation Varec.  There’s very little information on Operation Varec online, so I’ve decide to put together what information I can find on it, mostly gathered from statements from the Leveson.

This New York Times article carried claims made by former News of the World entertainment journalist Sean Hoare that his former close friend and News of the World editor Andy Coulson "actively encouraged" him to hack phones.  At the time of Operation Varec Andy Coulson was Director of Communications for the government at 10 Downing Street.  It was reported that Hoare’s statement resulted in him being interviewed under criminal caution by Scotland Yard, meaning that his statements could be used against him in possible future prosecution.

DAC Sue Akers described Operation Varec in her witness statement to the Leveson Inquiry as a “review (of) claims made in the New York Times newspaper on 1 September 2010 that Andy Coulson had in fact known more about phone hacking than he had admitted publicly.”

DAC Akers went on to say that Operation Varec “had been undertaken by the Counter Terrorism Command in Specialist Operations. However, in view of their workload in early 2011 and the continuing severe terrorism threat level, it was decided that it would not be appropriate to divert that unit from its core business and responsibilities.”

Operation Weeting was then set up on 26 January 2011 to follow on from Operation Varec and the earlier Operation Caryatid, and DAC Akers was appointed lead within the Specialist Crime Directorate.

Sir Paul Stephenson provided more information at the Leveson Inquiry about Operation Varec, which took place during the period he was Metropolitan Police Commissioner

On 1 September 2010 an article was published in the New York Times, in which apparently fresh allegations were made about phone hacking. I understood that AC (John) Yates undertook a scoping exercise at this time and put a new team in place to complete this task. This was known as Operation Varec. In December 2010 I was aware that the results of this work were referred to the CPS. I am told that they concluded there was insufficient evidence to mount a prosecution. Again, there was no reason for me to think the issue had not been satisfactorily dealt with. However, it was in December 2010 that I took a leave of absence due to ill-health.  The investigation team, AC Yates or Tim Godwin, who was Acting Commissioner, would have had any further knowledge of the outcome of Operation Varec from this point onwards.

He goes on to say:

Although I was aware from these discussions and AC Yates’ public comments that a strategy for dealing with people who may have been exposed to the practice of phone hacking had been developed by the original investigating team and service providers, I was unaware that this strategy had not been implemented as expected. I was also unaware that there was substantial material that had not been satisfactorily dealt with by that original investigation. Indeed my belief, based upon discussions with, and assurances from, AC Yates, was that the original investigation and prosecution strategy had successfully tested relatively new legislation covering a somewhat technical and now illegal practice..

It was only after the reopening of the investigation through the establishment of Operation Weeting during my absence from office on sick leave that I became aware that there were issues of substance for further investigation. Up until this point I had no reason to suspect that the initial investigation was other than entirely successful.

I do not recall having any substantive or detailed discussions about phone hacking with anyone else during this period. Indeed, it is fair to say that set against the other issues facing the MPS (including counterterrorism issues, the investigation into the "night-stalker", the reinvestigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, very real budgetary challenges, the Olympic security preparations, Government proposals for significant changes to the governance arrangements for the police and national structures for dealing with serious and organised crime) phone hacking was not a matter which I prioritised. I was satisfied that it was being overseen by a highly experienced and very senior officer. I was reassured by the fact that to my knowledge the  case had been reviewed by the CPS and by counsel.

Keir Starmer QC also appeared at the Leveson Inquiry and submitted extensive evidence relating to Operation Varec.  First of all it reveals that Operation Varec covered more than just the New York Times article:

In addition to the "fact-finding exercise" in relation to matters raised in the article, there was a further case involving Kelly Hoppen, who claimed that her phone had been hacked by a NOTW reporter named Dan Evan.

He then talked about Sean Hoare’s evidence:

Amongst other things, D/Supt Haydon told Simon Clements that Sean Hoare had been interviewed under caution and had said nothing.

Later on in his evidence in a section dedicated to Operation Varec he goes on to describe what happened next:

The next development was the formal request from the police for advice as to the prospects of prosecuting anyone as a result of the "fact-finding" exercise conducted by them following the NYT Article. This was received on 12th November 2010. I attach a copy of the request prepared by D/Supt Haydon at annex 72. In it D/Supt Haydon makes clear: "I must stress that my task was not to re-open or re-investigate the R v Goodman and Mulcaire case but clearly there were links and crossovers or both."

I am unclear whether I was actually shown this document at the time or merely told of its content.

The request for advice concluded thus:

"I accept that the evidential position does not meet the threshold for a referral to the CPS but in view of the vast media, public and political scrutiny in this case and due to both the MPS and CPS involvement to date, 1consider a referral is appropriate in order to agree a joint current and future position in this case... "

On 10th December 2010, Simon Clements delivered his advice on Operation Varec to the police. He concluded that as no one had been prepared to provide evidence, the case did not pass the evidential stage of the test contained in the Code for Crown Prosecutors, namely that there must be sufficient evidence to establish that there is a realistic prospect of conviction. I attach a copy of Simon Clements’ advice as annex 74.

On 22nd December 2010 Simon Clements completed his second advice, this time in relation to Dan Evans. I attach a copy of that advice at annex 76. In it he states that officers have asked for clarification in relation to the law, and Mr Clements set out the advice detailed in my letter to the Home Affairs Committee. As far as further investigation of this allegation was concerned, he concluded that the evidence in this case fell far short of the threshold for prosecution, but the police should keep a watching brief on this and the other civil cases in case any further evidence should emerge.

This concluded the phone hacking case for 2010.

And so Operation Varec came to a close, and with Sean Hoare’s death in 2011 it seems we’ll never know if he could have proven his claims about Andy Coulson, and he certainly would have made an interesting witness at the Leveson Inquiry.  The question does remain of why he didn't appear to give the police any useful evidence they could have worked with when they interviewed him.

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

Andy Coulson and his Conservative Party Severance Pay

I just had this sent to me by one of my readers:

I noticed something suspiciously evasive in Andy Coulson’s evidence to Leveson.
In his written witness statement p13, he says

When I entered government my [£440k+] contract with the Conservative Party was terminated and I was paid a lump sum.

 In his oral evidence pp 76-77, he was asked:

Q. Okay. You go to Downing Street in May 2010. I've been asked to put to you this question, Mr Coulson: your salary was cut to £140,000 a year, wasn't it?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you explore whether it was possible for private donors to top up your salary?
A. No.
Q. I think it's implicit in that answer that your salary was not topped up by private donors?
A. Not by private donors, no.
As I say in my statement, there was a notice payment paid to me as part of my Conservative contract.

So, did Coulson's lump sump severance from his £440k+ Conservative Party job compensate him for his £140k+ No 10 government contract salary? If so, how was it funded? If not private donors, general party income? corporate donors?

Something to think about, and speaking of Coulson's evidence the Sturdyblog has also picked up on something that's worth a read.

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

Links between Greg Miskiw and others involved with the phone hacking scandal

Following on from yesterday’s post on Ray Adams and his relationship with people involved with the phone hacking scandal I’ve decided to focus on one of the individuals he was linked with, Greg Miskiw:

Another police officer, Sid Fillery, was arrested at the time but later released. Mr Fillery went to take over Mr Morgan's job at Southern Investigations. Mr Fillery also had charges of perverting the course of justice dropped but was later convicted on 15 counts of making indecent images of children.

Mr Rees was being paid by News International to the tune of around £150,000 a year and shared a business address with former senior NI executive (and Northern Ireland editor) Alex Marunchak. Mr Marunchak also likes hackers as he paid one to crack Ian Hurst's (alias Martin Ingram) home PC. Mr Rees also established the firm Abbeycover, at the same address as Southern Investigations, with the former news editor of the News of the World, Greg Miskiw.

As News of the World assistant editor to Andy Coulson (NotW editor 2003-2007) Greg Miskiw gave Glenn Mulcaire a full-time contract, the only private investigator to have a full time contract with the News of the World. Glenn Mulcaire was working as an assistant for John Boyall, who in the late 1990s had been used by the NotW to acquire information from confidential databases . After a falling out between the paper and John Boyall Greg Miskiw appears to have poached Glenn Mulcaire from him.

Greg Miskiw’s and Glenn Mulcaire’s relationship was brought up in a number of inquiries, as reported in the Daily Telegraph:

Records seized by police from the home of Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator jailed for hacking for the newspaper, had “Greg” written in a corner. In a legal case involving the actress Sienna Miller, the High Court was told this referred to Mr Miskiw.

In 2009, a parliamentary committee was shown a document on headed News of the World notepaper in which Mr Miskiw offered Mulcaire a £7,000 bonus if he could obtain information to help with a story about Gordon Taylor, the former head of the professional footballers’ association. Mr Taylor later received a secret £700,000 pay-off from the newspaper, after it admitted his phone had been hacked.

Greg Miskiw and John Boyall would be interviewed as part of Operation Glade (corruption in the police service 2003-2005) and the Andy Hayman led Operation Caryatid (phone hacking of royals 2006-2007) along with Glenn Mulcaire. Nick Davies also reported that Greg Miskiw was questioned as part of Operation Motorman (2003-2005).

As mentioned above, Abbeycover was established by Greg Miskiw and Alex Marunchak registered at the same address as Southern Investigations, run by Rees and Sid Fillery. Rees also registered the company Pure Energy at the same address.  This seems to link Greg Miskiw, Jonathan Rees, Sid Fillery, and Alex Marunchak. Alex Marunchak and Jonathan Rees would be linked to Operation Kalmyk, part of Operation Tuleta into trojan emails and computer hacking, with Operation Kalmyk specifically relating to Stakeknife and Ian Hurst.

Greg Miskiw was arrested in August 2011 on suspicion of unlawful interception of communications and conspiring to intercept communications, one month after Terenia Taras, a 39-year-old freelance journalist and ex-girlfriend of Mr Miskiw, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications. Both were arrested as part of Operation Weeting, with Terenia Taras being told she would not face further action by the CPS in July 2012.

Now there’s plenty more to be said about other individuals involved, such as Jonathan Rees and his hiring by Andy Coulson after serving his jail term, and I'll cover those later. By focusing on individuals I'm hoping to make some of the more complex relationships in the phone hacking scandal easier to understand.

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