Hackgate - 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

Hackgate - Andre Baker - A Hackgate Footnote?

The latest from my regular contributor.

Readers of these Brown Moses posts on Hackgate may remember a recent post - 'News Corp - Diplomatic Immunity?' It offered a different perspective regarding politicians subjected to News International 'dark arts' - shifting the focus from WHO to WHAT Offices of State they held at the time they were allegedly hacked, burgled or put under surveillance. This current article is an experiment in doing the reverse - shifting the focus from WHAT law enforcement office was held to WHO?

The starting point is a small gathering in a side office at Scotland Yard - convened to confront Rebekah Wade and ask why the News of the World (NOTW) had apparently undertaken surveillance of a Metropoltan Police (MET) officer investigating the barbaric axe murder of Daniel Morgan.   At the meeting were Rebekah Wade, Dick Federcio, the MET officer himself Dave Cook, and Cook's boss Commander Andre Baker.

But WHO is Andre BAKER?  And what are his connections to the complex Hackgate saga?

Andre (Andy) BAKER has had a lengthy career in the MET.  He joined in 1975 and rose through the ranks in posts throughout London, including notoriously tough beats in South East London around Lewisham, Eltham and Catford. 

October 2001 He was promoted to the rank of Commander, Serious Crime Directorate (Homicide). As such, he would have been well aware that three previous investigations into Daniel Morgan's murder had been abortive, and that one of those investigations had involved MET bugging conversations of suspects (Operation Nigeria) - eavesdropping on apparently corrupt procurement of information by NOTW.

21 March 2002  Milly Dowler disappeared from Walton-on-Thames.  Surrey Police started their abduction - then murder - inquiry.  The MET Serious Crime (Homicide) - under Commander Andre BAKER - liaised closely with Surrey Police in case Milly's murder might be linked to suspects in other London murder investigations.

It is not known if Surrey Police at that time apprised Andre BAKER and his team that NOTW had hacked Milly Dowler's phone.  If Surrey Police did, then this knowledge would have added considerably to Commander BAKER's growing intelligence on the 'dark arts' and NOTW.

25 June 2002  Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook appeared on BBC Crimewatch to appeal for any information on the murder of Daniel Morgan.

10 July 2002  Cook noted an unfamiliar parked van outside his home. It tailed him whilst he drove his children to school. His then wife, Jacqui Hames, later noticed photographs of their house being taken surreptitiously from a parked vehicle. Further investigations by fellow MET officers are alleged to have connected NotW to this covert surveillance.  The MET were concerned enough to give the Cook-Hames family witness protection status and additional security.



9 January 2003  The confrontation at Scotland Yard.   Dick Fedorcio arranged the meeting, at the request of Andre BAKER.  As Fedorcio described it (Evidence to the Leveson Inquiry p54)

Commander Baker was doing it because of his concerns about Mr Cook's concerns, really. It wasn't about taking any action against the News of the World; it was to help Mr Cook understand and come to terms with what had gone on. That was how Commander Baker described to me, as a welfare meeting, looking after a member of his staff

At a subsequent Metropolitan Police Authority meeting (the then MET oversight body) in 2011, a Member understandably asked why (MPA: Strategic and Operational Policing Committee minutes -14-Jul-11 p4)

... no further action was taken. He asked: first, who took the decision to proceed in that way - a conversation with the editor but no further action - and were then Commissioner or Deputy involved or informed? Secondly, were any other senior officers involved or informed? And finally, would John Yates' team who reinvestigated the Daniel Morgan murder have known?

The MPA were advised by the MET Acting Commissioner that no public response could be made as the Cook-Hames alleged surveillance was now under active investigation.

November 2004  Levi Bellfield arrested in west London on suspicion of murdering French student Amelie DelaGrange.  Commander BAKER said "There were reasonable grounds to arrest this individual" . A Daily Mail report added, "detectives have previously linked the murder to five other attacks in south-west London."  Publicly at least, no connection was yet made with the Surrey murder of Milly Dowler.

2006  As a consequence of Operation Motorman uncovering prima facie Data Protection Act breaches by journalists of national newspapers (including NOTW), the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) published 'What Price Privacy' and 'What Price Privacy Now?'  These two Reports (here and here) to Parliament and relevant law enforcement bodies detailed industrial scale data procurement by national newspaper titles from private investigators.  The ICO Commissioner also informed the Press Complaints Commission that the ICO would have no hesitation in prosecuting any journalists suspected of similar data breaches in future.

2006-7  Operation Caryatid - the investigation of phone hacking of the royal household by NOTW's Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire. As the sheer volume and extent of phone hacking became apparent, the MET Operation Caryatid team liaised with and briefed other relevant law enforcement agencies (para 72) - including the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

By this time (from January 2006), the Deputy Director of SOCA was Andre BAKER.

2006-07 was clearly a busy time.  The Haute de la Garenne child abuse scandal in Jersey (in which Jimmy Savile is now implicated) needed a mainland, ACPO-nominated authority to oversee the investigation. Former MET Homicide Commander, Andre BAKER took up the role in addition to his Deputy Director of SOCA duties. This necessitated liaison with Jersey States police and several visits to Jersey.  The controversial Haute de la Garenne investigation was ramped up by lurid, sensationalised  press reporting. A subsequent Review observed (final para)

The approach taken by the States of Jersey Police to releasing information about the teeth found was unusual, not consistent with normal working practice in the UK and encouraged further media reporting and speculation.

2007-09 At the same time, back on the mainland, Surrey Police were still pursuing the Milly Dowler murder investigation as well as allegations of sexual abuse by victims of Jimmy Savile.  Just as knowledge of the NOTW Dowler phone hacking was apparently not shared by Surrey with the MET, it seems perhaps the Surrey team investigating Savile were not informed of crucial information known to MET and Jersey police forces.

Throughout this period, some of the national press were critical of police crime-fighting.  For example, The Sun's crime reporter, Mike Sullivan, castigated Andre BAKER, the MET, and Surrey Police for failing to catch the killers of several murder victims - including Milly Dowler.

2007-08 SOCA researched and complied an intelligence report entitled 'The Rogue Element of the Private Investigation Industry'.  It highlighted the corrosive effect of press collusion in illegal practices such as phone hacking, Police National Computer abuse, computer hacking, corruption, vehicle tracking, surveillance etc etc.

2005-09  Operation Millipede.  This was a lengthy SOCA investigation into a network of private investigators' blagging and computer hacking.  It led to four arrests in 2009 and four convictions in Feb 2012.



July 2009 John Yates undertook an 8 hour consideration of Operation Caryatid before concluding there was no necessity to re-open the investigation.  Two days later, Yates received a written briefing from two of the original Caryatid investigating officers. It reiterated that "briefings of the emerging security risks in relation to mobile phone voicemails were given to SCDI4, The Security Service, Cabinet Office, The Royal Household and SOCA."  (p6)


2010-11  First a New York Times report on phone hacking, then Nick Davies' Guardian exposé of NOTW's hacking of Milly Dowler's mobile phone prompted demand for an independent, judge led Inquiry.  Lord Justice Leveson's Inquiry into 'Culture, Practice and Ethics of the Press' started in October 2011.

June 2011  Serial killer Levi Bellfield is finally convicted of the murder of Milly Dowler.

2012  BAKER, Deputy Director of SOCA, moves to another post as Deputy Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) where he will probably be involved with police investigations into the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Andre BAKER will no doubt be grateful that he was not called to give evidence to Leveson, and that his name is relegated to a footnote in the history of Hackgate - a mere bit player at that small, informal Scotland Yard meeting with Rebekah Wade.

Related Articles
Hackgate - Ten To Watch For
Hackgate - Dear Surrey Police
Hackgate - The John Boyall Files
One Rogue Email And The Indestructible Archive 
John Yates And Neil Wallis - A Mutual Understanding
Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent

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

Alastair Morgan On The Latest Hackgate Revelations

In this past week it seems the Hackgate scandal has begun to make comeback, with new claims in the Independent and Evening Standard which have included allegations that the News of the World ordered Southern Investigations to carry out burglaries on their behalf, a police mole at Southern Investigations being exposed by a hacker with links to the News of the World, and other allegations relating to the blackmailing of ministers and MPs using information obtained by Southern Investigations.

This has all been of great interest to Alastair Morgan, whose brother, Daniel Morgan, set up Southern Investigations in 1984 with Jonathan Rees, and was murdered in 1987 after attempting to expose Southern Investigations' involvement in alleged police corruption.  A number of police investigations into the murder were seemingly undermined by the police's close relationship with Southern Investigations, and the latest revelations in the press are linked to the work of a police undercover operative, Derek Haslam, who was supposedly placed at Southern Investigations as part of an inquiry into Daniel Morgan's murder.  Earlier today I spoke to Alastair Morgan about the latest allegations in the press:

What do you think of this quote from Jonathan Rees' video interview in the Independent, re Daniel's murder?

I think that's one of the biggest deceptions of all time.  I don't think any of the senior MET police officers whatsoever cared less about the Morgan murder - they couldn't care less.

I never comment on anything that Mr Rees says.

Do you believe then that Operation Nigeria was just used as an excuse to get a listening probe into Southern Investigations to find out what information they were gathering about the MET and senior officers?

I believe that this was part of the Met’s motivation.

Firstly, Operation Nigeria was carried out behind our backs after a meeting between my former MP (now Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury) and the then Deputy Commissioner John Stevens. My family were not allowed to know what was going on in that inquiry. That alone creates suspicion, given the history of the case up to that time. We also know since the Leveson Inquiry that Lord Stevens (as he is now) says he was not briefed about the evidence of extensive police/media (NoW) corruption that was uncovered during that investigation, despite the fact that Bob Quick - who took over responsibility for that operation from John Yates in January 1999 - wrote a report recommending further investigation and prosecutions for his superior, Andy Hayman. Mr Quick told the Leveson Inquiry that Scotland Yard had refused to provide him with a copy of his report to help him prepare his statement for Leveson. As Deputy Commissioner, John Stevens was responsible for force discipline and, given the evidence of extensive police/media corruption uncovered, he must at the very least have not been in control of his command. The fact that he was coached for his interview for the Commissioner’s post by Neil Wallis and took on a columnist contract for NoW after he left the Met has left  a very bad taste in my mouth. 

At this time, I know of only one instance when the probe deployed in Southern Investigations was used specifically to gather evidence on Daniel’s murder. This took place at a time when police knew they were going to have to close the operation down to make arrests  in an ongoing conspiracy by Jonathan Rees and others (including a serving police officer, Austin Warnes) to plant cocaine on an innocent woman in order to discredit her in a child-custody battle.

Tom Watson MP has called for all Operation Nigeria tapes to be transcribed. What other action do you now think is needed?

This would be very much in the public interest, as would a full judicial inquiry into the police’s handling of Daniel murder.

How does this new information help your call for a full inquiry into Daniel's killing?

Much of the recently publicised allegations only amplify the deeply unhealthy relationship between the Met, NoW and Southern Investigations that became evident during the Leveson inquiry, most specifically in the evidence that NoW interfered with an investigation into Daniel’s murder in 2002, when DCS David Cook and his family were placed under surveillance by journalists from NoW. Since the collapse of the prosecution in March 2011, we have become aware that two witnesses allege that Daniel actually approached NoW with an expose of police corruption shortly before he was murdered. The most recent allegations only underline the need for a full judicial inquiry. 

With new and increasingly serious accusations against Southern Investigations being made all the time do you think it's time for there to be an inquiry in to their activities, including their possible links with the murder of your brother?  If so, what form would you like that inquiry to take?

A full judicial inquiry or a possibly panel of inquiry as in the Hillsborough disaster are the only real options, in my view.

You can read more about the Morgan family's campaign at the Justice 4 Daniel Website, as well as following the campaign on Twitter.

Related Articles
Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 1: Questions Still Unanswered
Operation Tuleta - A Second Look
The Cook-Hames Surveillance : A Watched Kettle...
Hackgate for Beginners - The Murder of Daniel Morgan

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

Southern Investigations - What's In A Name

I've been sent another piece by a reader, this one looking at Southern Investigations, linked to various aspects of Hackgate.  It's a really well researched piece and makes some very well observed connections, well worth reading:

Southern Investigations - What's In A Name?

In the'black arts' world of smoke and mirrors, at least we can be certain that Jonathan Rees owned Southern Investigations.

But what if it is NOT true?

Southern Investigations is the private detective agency covertly bugged by police in 1998. This was Operation NIGERIA - the aborted attempt to glean evidence in the murder of Daniel Morgan. Daniel had established the business after gaining experience at Madagans private detective agency where he had first met Jonathan REES.  Operation NIGERIA was abandoned when it uncovered the intention to frame an innocent woman for drug possession, with the collusion of corrupt Met officers. Yet if you look at some contemporaneous reports, Southern Investigations is not mentioned at all. The business cited as bugged is 'Law and Commercial'. Curiouser and curiouser.

  

Delving into free-to-see databases of business details is enlightening. Ostensibly, the official Companies House registers have accurate details of active and dissolved businesses, individual company Secretary, individual Directors and so on.  'Southern Investigations Ltd' is a company registered in W Sussex, with no apparent link to Rees - as is  'Southern Investigations Services Ltd' which was incorporated (or sold on) in 2002.  

'William John REES' however (Director ID : 910928747, d.o.b 09/1954) was a director of 'Law and Commercial Services Ltd' together with Sid FILLERY.  A serving Met detective, FILLERY was - inexplicably - investigating officer on the Daniel Morgan murder case until he was replaced after four days by Detective Superintendent Douglas Campbell. This original 1987 murder investigation was corrupted and bungled badly. DS Campbell allocated an inexperienced detective, with no undercover experience, to try to trick FILERY into admitting collusion. The inexperienced undercover officer, Duncan HANRAHAN, was perhaps a questionable choice as he was "friendly with Rees and Fillery, and a fellow Freemason. Another disqualification was his posting at Norbury police station, where Rees had many other friends whom he was allegedly going to use ahead of the murder to fit up Morgan on a spurious drink drive offence."

A director check for Sidney Alexander FILLERY links through to 'SMMC Services Ltd' - Company Secretary is one Duncan Mark HANRAHAN.

In addition to 'Law and Commercial Services Ltd', FILLERY's past Directorships also include 'Planman Ltd', co-Director also William John REES.

William John REES applied for Core Participant status at the Leveson Inquiry before the start of Module 1. Eligibility for applying was given as 'may be subject to explicit or significant criticism'.

A search for 'William John Rees' reveals 10 known business associations.

In this labyrinthine tangle, one might be forgiven for thinking that there was a consciously convoluted strategy, tending towards the opaque. In deliberately muddying the waters, the technicalities matter.  One could answer quite truthfully on oath that one had no connection with, say; 'Law and Commercial' if one was in fact linked to a different business with a very similar name. This is a world where 'Law and Commercial' is a completely different legal entity to 'Law & Commercial' - yes, the ampersand is a legal differentiation. 

A similar confusion is revealed with a search for a known associate of Jonathan Rees, Philip CAMPBELL SMITH.  Apparently there are two of them - different Director IDentifier numbers, same date of birth (perhaps a coincidence, or identically named twins are a possibility...) with co-Director Graham Freeman, CAMPBELL SMITH operated 'Brookmans International Limited'.  

  

It provided "a wide range of services including security, investigation, surveillance, personal profiling, bodyguard, VIP protection, risk assessment, cyber investigation and electronic counter measures".  It was dissolved in 2011. Another Freeman company, Elite Maritime Protection Services (registered in Gibraltar) specialised in guarding marine traffic in piracy-prone locations, including the provision of armed, ex-special forces guards. Elite Maritime's Director of Security was now known as 'Phil SMITH'. Its business too seems to have foundered recently as both Freeman and CAMPBELL SMITH were convicted and imprisoned in OPERATION MILLIPEDE.  CAMPBELL SMITH, alias Rob Lewis, was covertly filmed by BBC Panorama admitting to hacking the emails of Ian Hurst and thus he may be of interest to OPERATION KALMYK. It has also been alleged that it was CAMPBELL SMITH who was commissioned by Jonathan REES to hack into the computer of Dave Cook and Jacqui Hames for the News of the World, in collusion with Alex MARUNCHAK.

There is also a virtuoso associate of REES renowned for his skills in accountancy and blagging. BARRY BEARDALL is In February 2012, Tom Watson MP spoke in Westminster Hall on Daniel Morgan's murder, Southern Investigations and REES's close links with the News of the World's Alex MARUNCHAK.  Tom Watson mentioned another REES scam business, Pure Energy.  On checking, it can be found that 'Jonathan William REES' (Director Identifier 909962227, and a.k.a. 'William John REES') was co-Director of 'Pure Energy & Power plc', incorporated in 2004.

"...the man who tricked a firm of London solicitors into handing over details of the sale of a Westminster flat that [Gordon] Brown had bought in 1992, is described as "a frontman for the Sunday Times … [who] used his accounting skills to set up phoney companies with phoney accounts and phoney histories and then conducted investigations which were at best highly unorthodox and at worst exercises in pure entrapment".

Barry William BEARDALL has been a Director or Company Secretary for numerous businesses, with vague and uninformative names such as 'Fortmile Ltd' and 'Abbeytrust Services Ltd'

  

The other named Director of Pure Energy was "Dr" Stephen Nathan, a.k.a. Ronnie Nathan - a serial conman who had met REES in Wandsworth Prison.

"His fellow director Rees was not the only other company man with a criminal record.  One of Pure Energy's two accountants, Barry BEARDALL, had also served six years in jail for VAT fraud after being caught attempting to smuggle £7m of alcohol into Britain."

Tom Watson's reference to 'Pure Energy' was to highlight that the News of the World's Alex MARUNCHAK and Greg MISKIW had a vodka import business registered at the same address as 'Pure Energy'. Their business was called 'Abbeycover Ltd'.  When asked about Tom Watson's speech, MARUNCHAK dismissed the claims,

 "As part of my master-plan to escape Fleet Street and become a multi-millionaire, I registered a limited company at Companies House in London through a chartered accountant. I believe he registered numerous companies at the same address"

One would expect that MARUNCHAK's co-Director would be found to be Greg MISKIW.  No, that would be incorrect as he is registered as 'Greg Miskin'.  Indeed, he has had businesses registered in the names 'Greg Miskiw', 'Greg Miskin', his birth name 'Ihor Miskiw', and 'Greg Ihor Miskin'. Covering all the bases, his mylife.com profile is in the name 'Greg Harry Ihor Miskiw', and he is named in the OPERATION MOTORMAN files as 'Greg Miskins'.

Given all the hacking scandal coverage since Goodman and Mulcaire were convicted in 2007, one would expect that the best course of action would be to keep a low profile and keep your nose clean.  In particular, REES has served lengthy time in prison since his early days working as a young bailiff for Madagans.

But wait.... there's yet another 'William John Rees', yet another Director ID but same date of birth. 09/1954. He has yet another Directorship of yet another current (but dormant) company 'City Mercantile Services Ltd' - co-Director with Bryan Edwin Madagan.

And who has just formed a new company, in Feb 2012, called 'Madagans International Ltd' - registered at the same address?

Well hello again, Barry BEARDALL....

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

Operation Russia - Corruption and Controversy

Another reader contribution, this time covering Operation Russia, the investigation into police corruption with links to Ray Adams, the murders of Daniel Morgan and Stephen Lawrence, and much more:

In March 1987, Daniel Morgan was savagely murdered. Allegedly, he was silenced to prevent him taking his knowledge of a network of corrupt Met police to the News of the World's Alex Marunchak. Daniel's business partner, Jonathan REES was suspected of his murder.  

Also in that Spring of 1987, a very secret police operation commenced - OPERATION RUSSIA. Its aim was to investigate organised police corruption in London - particularly in South East London where the Daniel Morgan murder occurred. Intelligence pointed to corruption amongst those who themselves were tasked with pursuing the most serious crimes, such as high-level organised drug suppliers. It was believed that corruption between serious criminals and detectives was allowing both to prosper financially, and protect each other in close collusion.

OPERATION RUSSIA was interested in Commander Ray ADAMS. In 1987, soon after he took over as head of the Metropolitan Police's criminal intelligence branch, SO11, it was announced that Mr Adams was the subject of a corruption inquiry after a criminal alleged improper financial links with informants.

Adams's close associate, DC Alan "Taffy'' Holmes shot himself dead on 27 July , 1987, on the eve of Adams being interviewed by corruption investigators. Holmes had been interviewed twice, and was expected to face further questioning.

According to a South London detective Derek Haslam (himself somewhat controversial) 

Daniel's best contact in the south London police was Detective Constable Alan 'Taffy' Holmes.... Haslam claims Taffy Holmes and Daniel were getting ready to blow the whistle just before the private detective was killed...At the time of the murder, Taffy Holmes was serving on the Brinks Mat investigation.

Commander ADAMS was based at East Dulwich, local to Catford, Eltham etc. It was home of the South East Regional Crime Squad ('SERCS'or '9SERCS'), Detective Sid FILLERY from Catford police station, was initially tasked investigating Daniel Morgan's murder - without declaring his own close business links with the chief murder suspect, Jonathan REES. FILLERY's alleged destruction of evidence has scuppered all attempts to convict any suspect for Daniel's killing. 

One of the chief suspects in the Brinks-Mat robbery was Kenneth Noye - a known, violent criminal.  Noye was rumoured to be a registered police informant too, possibly as a way of getting rid of rivals. It has been suggested that Noye's police 'handler' was Ray ADAMS.

During his trial in 1985 for the murder of Det Con John Fordham - of which he was acquitted - evidence emerged that Noye had told the officer in charge of the Brink's-Mat robbery investigation, Brian Boyce, to ring a fellow officer named Ray Adams. Adams, Noye had suggested, would say he was "not a violent man or a killer". Mr Adams, who later became a commander of Scotland Yard's intelligence branch, is understood to have been one of Noye's police handlers

Another criminal informer allegedly 'handled' by Ray ADAMS was Clifford Norris.  In 1993, in Eltham, teenager Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack. Clifford Norris's son - David - was quickly identified to police, by multiple local people, as one of the perpetrators.  Clifford Norris, with his a fearsome criminal reputation, may have helped destroy vital evidence and have assisted his son David by coaching him in what to say (or not say) in police interviews. The Lawrence family suspected police corruption in the way the initial arrests were delayed.

In the 1999 Macpherson Report, the botched Lawrence investigation was criticised heavily. The Met was branded institutionally racist, and the delays which allowed crucial evidence destruction castigated. One police officer in particular, John Davidson, was deemed to have delayed arrests - though corruption was not proven.  However, there is also in the MacPherson Report a substantial section (chapter 31) devoted to the actions of Ray ADAMS. His strange intervention, via a letter to the Lawrence family, was questionable.  "On the same morning, Mr Adams left the police force never to return. He was ordered to go off sick with a bad back. He retired the following August. He later joined the international investigators, Kroll Associates, as did another senior officer in the Lawrence inquiry, former detective chief superintendent William Illsley."

After his time with Kroll, ADAMS went on to controversial News Corporation employment at NDS.

Meanwhile, OPERATION RUSSIA continued, led by John YATES.  It included investigating the Met's own anti-corruption operations, themselves dogged with allegations of illegality.  For example, questions were raised about an Operation Nightshade by Andrew Mackinley MP in 2000. A constituent of his, a Met detective suspected of corruption, had complained that he had been illegally bugged and recorded:

During the dinner conversation it was mentioned that that day's news had referred to the cross-examination that had taken place during the Macpherson inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence. Counsel for the Lawrences, Michael Mansfield, had cross-examined the controversial senior police officer, Ray Adams, about senior Metropolitan police officer relationships with the Norris family or clan.... I want to halt Commander [Andy] HAYMAN's  dilatory and partial handling of my constituent's serious complaints of wrongdoing...Commander HAYMAN should have investigated my constituent's complaints... he invited me to have a security briefing, but I declined, because I thought that such an approach was wholly improper.

OPERATION RUSSIA did net some high-profile convictions, for offences e.g. drug dealing, such as Met detectives Duncan Hanrahan and Tom Kingston. They were both also implicated in OPERATION NIGERIA: the covert bugging of Jonathan REES and Sid FILLERY's  private detective agency, Southern Investigations. Both Hanrahan and Kingston had been supplying Southern Investigations with information illegally obtained from sources such as the Police National Computer.

Ray ADAMS has recently cropped up again in May 2012 in relation to allegations that evidence of police corruption in the Stephen Lawrence case had been deliberately withheld by Scotland Yard. The evidence surrounds "Ray Adams, and whether the Met passed information to the Macpherson inquiry about its investigations into him, may be more likely to increase the pressure on the home secretary, Theresa May, to call a second inquiry."

OPERATION RUSSIA, and its somewhat familiar names, may well be about to come under even closer scrutiny.

UPDATE - As per this post there's now a visual representation of the above information links:

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

Links between Ray Adams and others involved with the phone hacking scandal

After the allegations made in Panorama's Murdoch's Pirates an eagle eyed Something Awful forum member Daveman23 noted some interesting links between various individuals involved with groups and individuals mentioned in the Panorama documentry, including Ray Adams, former head of security of the Murdoch subsidiary NDS, that’s well worth a read:

That would be former Scotland Yard commander Ray Adams (and Head of Criminal Intelligence - organised crime basically) working for NDS as Head of Security. That's the same Ray Adams who is accused of interfering with the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and investigated for misconduct over his links with drug dealer, murderer and police informant Kenneth Noye and his associate Clifford Norris, father of David Norris (now in jail for Stephen Lawrence's murder). The report into corruption relating to Mr Adams was withheld from the Macpherson report into the murder.


Also the same Ray Adams whose friend DC Alan "Taffy" Holmes shot himself in 1987 whilst Ray was being investigated by a police corruption inquiry. DC Holmes was the policeman working with murdered private detective Daniel Morgan on a whistleblowing case against corruption in the Met (allegations from Gillard and Flynn's "The Untouchables"). Daniel Morgan's murder inquiry in 1987 also seems to have suffered from NI "interest", involving the surveillance of the wife of the chief investigating officer.


Daniel Morgan's business partner, Jonathan Rees, was acquitted of Mr Morgan's murder in 2011 alongside the Vian brothers and James Cook. 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 Wiskiw.


The same names, every time.

 

It makes you ask if there's more connections between individuals involved in various aspects of News Corp's operations.

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