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

The Cook-Hames Surveillance : A Watched Kettle...

The latest piece from my regular contributor.

In the long, long list of civil actions brought against  News Group Newspapers (NGN), Claim HC11C02844 stands out from all the others.  Most  claims are against NGN and Mulcaire. However, Claim HC11C02844 (p 9) reads:

David Cook and Jacqui Hames v (1) NGN (2) Glenn Mulcaire (3) Alex Marunchak (4) Greg Miskiw

Started in Aug 2011, this particular litigation tops the league as the sole action against FOUR names. The civil action relates to allegations that the News of the World was implicated in illegal information gathering and covert surveillance of Cook and his then wife, Jacqui Hames, in 2002.  Both were serving Metropolitan Police Service (MET) police officers.  This has been in the public domain for some time - for example, covered by C4 News.

Hames' evidence to the the Leveson Inquiry on the subject can be read here pp 97-110.  There are as yet no known arrests in relation to these specific allegations.

Campaigning group Hacked Off described the personal devestation caused as 'the triple betrayal of Jacqui Hames' - sold out bt the MET, sold out to News International, and kept in the dark for years by police investigators.

The role of Southern Investigations in the Cook/Hames surveillance has also been reported widely.  In summary, there was an alleged chain of actions initiated in summer 2002 by Jonathan Rees from prison. Rees conferred with Sid Fillery, Fillery made arrangements with News of the World's Alex Marunchak for the surveillance, Marunchak liaised with NotW's Greg Miskiw on illegally obtaining personal information, Miskiw commissioned another private investigator with computer hacking skills, and also commissioned Glenn Mulcaire to undertake blagging and phone hacking. For background, see this Guardian report.

Some months later, Rebekah Wade was said to have been confronted at Scotland Yard about NotW's complicity.  Dick Fedorcio (who was at the meeting) says that he mentioned it to then MET Commissioner John Stevens but Stevens disputes this.  Of additional note is the seeming ignorance and confusion evidenced by John Stevens and Dick Fedorcio about Southern Investigations and its well-known history of corruption.

Stevens' evidence to the Leveson Inquiry demonstrates a surprising inablity to join the dots.

Mr Jay: Were you aware, at the time when you were Deputy Commissioner and/or Commissioner, that the News of the World were extensively using a private investigation company called Southern Investigations?
A:  No.
Q. Did there ever come a time when you were aware of that?
 A. No.
Q. So does this follow: that you weren't aware that the News of the World made extensive use of Southern Investigations illegally to obtain information about police officers?
A. No.
...
Q. You say in your book: "At the end of the 1990s, an independent detective agency called Southern Investigations, based in Sydenham, was frequently coming up on the anti-corruption squad's radar." So when did you become aware of that?
A. As Deputy Commissioner, a presentation was made to me to try and get a probe into Southern Investigations' offices....
...
Q. ...your book goes on to say: "Eventually, it became possible to monitor conversations and the hidden microphones picked up much intelligence about the activities going on inside. Via the agency, corrupt officers were selling stories about their investigations to newspapers and being paid quite handsome amounts of money, an unsavoury business all around."
A. Yes.
Q. So when did you become aware of that?
A. When prosecutions took place, and one or two people were successfully prosecuted.
...
Q. Taking it forward then to Crimewatch in 2002. An appeal was made on Crimewatch. DCS Cook, I think, made the appeal on behalf of the Metropolitan Police. Was this in relation to reopening the inquiry into the murder of Mr Morgan?
A. Yes, where we put a considerable amount of resources into.
Q. Were you aware of that at the time, of the Crimewatch appeal, that is?
A. No.
Q. Were you aware that Mr Cook and his family, including, of course, Jacqui Hames, were placed under surveillance by the News of the World?
A. No.
Q. Did that come to your attention later or not at all?
A. I can't remember anyone mentioning that to me in person, no.
Q. Were you aware that in about 2004, Southern Investigations was gathering evidence on senior MPS personnel, and some of that evidence related to their private lives?
A. No. 

Well, at least Stevens is consistent about his ignorance.  Fedorcio's evidence (p 57 & p 58), by contrast, is markedly contradictory:

Q. So was the name "Southern Investigations" something you heard for the first time at the meeting?
A. I think I'd heard of them in previous anti-corruption activity. So when the name came up, it wasn't a surprise to me.
...
Q. Were you aware of the corruption investigation into MPS police officers leaking information to Southern Investigations?
A. I don't think so, no.

Mindful of any traducing of her reputation, Rebekah Brooks (as Core Participant) made a Closing Submission to Leveson which names Jacqui Hames (p5) as one whose evidence either (a) made assertions for which there is little or no evidential basis; (b) gave evidence as to matters which are yet to be tested in court; or; (c) appeared to be using the Inquiry to settle old scores.

And what does DCS Dave Cook have to say?  Nothing, as he was effectively silenced by the independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) when they arrested him last January.

The timing is very significant  Cook had just returned to duties for the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) after six months sick leave.  The arrest was reportedly executed the day that Cook requested an opportunity to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, and sought Core Participant status. The timing is therefore very reminiscent of the way that former-ICO investigator was raided and threatened with prosecution on the eve of his evidence to Leveson.

So Dave Cook is kettled in silent limbo - waiting for that tardy IPCC/CPS charging decision, or perhaps disciplinary or dismissal.

And still waiting for overdue and decisive MET legal action in relation to Case HC11C02844.

Related Articles
Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 1: Questions Still Unanswered
Operation Tuleta - A Second Look
Some Intriguing Hackgate "Known Unknowns"

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

Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent

One name has come up again and again during Hackgate is Alex Marunchak, who worked at the News of the World between 1981 and 2006, and who has yet to be arrested or charged in relation to any of the Hackgate police operations (Tuleta, Elvedon, et al).  Marunchak rose through the ranks at the News of the World under editors including Piers Morgan, Phil Hall, Rebekah Brooks, and Andy Coulson.

Marunchak name first came up in the hacking scandal when BBC's Panorama claimed that while working as editor for the Irish edition of the News of the World in 2006 he was sent the private emails of ex-British Intelligent officer Ian Hurst , who wrote a book about the alleged spy who infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army, Stakeknife, under the pseudonym Martin Ingram.  The BBC programme alleged that Alex Marunchak had hired the hacker to target Hurst, and the e-mails were allegedly obtained from Ian Hurst's computer using a Trojan virus contained in an e-mail, with copies of the emails being faxed to the News of the World's Dublin office. Marunchak told the BBC he had

never met with a private investigator whom I asked to hack into computers.

And

It is absolutely untrue any unlawfully obtained material was ever received by me at the News of the World's offices in Dublin

Beyond the claims of e-mail hacking at his direction the BBC also claimed they had evidence that he had paid Southern Investigations for access to stories based on confidential police materials while he was working in London for the News of the World.

Marunchak is alleged to have had a long relationship with Southern Investigations, and it's owner Jonathan Rees, which included using photographers and vans leased to the paper to run surveillance on behalf of Jonathan Rees and his partner, Sid Fillery, on Detective Chief Superintendent David Cook.  The Guardian investigation suggested that the surveillance included, among other things, the alleged use of Trojan viruses attached to emails in an attempt to steal information from his computer.  What triggered this was Cook's appearance on BBC Crimewatch, where he appealed for information to help solve the murder of Daniel Morgan, a crime for which both Jonathan Rees and Sid Fillery were among the suspects.  Cook was warned by Scotland Yard that they had picked up intelligence that Marunchak had been contacted by Fillery, and had promised to "sort Cook out".

The relationship between Marunchak and Southern Investigations goes way back, far enough for some of the conversations between Marunchak and Rees to be picked up by police bugs as part of Operation Nigeria in 1999, including these snippets reported in the Guardian in 2002

Alex Marunchak, of the News of the World, is identified by the transcripts as a lucrative customer of the agency. In a bugged telephone call in July 1999, Rees said Mr Marunchak owed the agency £7,555. The transcript says that the money would be paid in the name Media Investigations. Rees added that the account would be "back within the agreed limit" by the following week.

The transcripts also contain details of a call Rees made to Mr Marunchak the same month in which they discuss information about Kenneth Noye, the notorious criminal later convicted of the M25 road rage murder.

Rees asked: "You know the information I gave you about Noye?" He then explained that his contact had come up with something else and went on to talk about a minor royal couple who, he claimed, were suffering marriage and financial difficulties.

Asked to comment on the transcripts, Mr Marunchak said: "Are you recording this call?" Asked if he disputed that he bought material from Rees, he said: "You haven't heard me admit it."

It's unclear when the relationship between Marunchak and Jonathan Rees began, but in a strange co-incidence the BBC reported that they had seen a witness report that claimed that Daniel Morgan had said one week before his murder that he was taking a story to a newspaper exposing police corruption, and the witness believed his contact at the News of the World was Alex Marunchak.  Sadly for Daniel Morgan the only story that made it to the papers was the one of his brutal murder in the car park of the Golden Lion pub, shortly after meeting Jonathan Rees.

In July 2011 it came to light that Alex Marunchak had found time in between working for the News of the World and setting up businesses with his friends to work as a Ukranian translator for the Metropolitan Police

Between 1980 and 2000 Alex Marunchak was on the Metropolitan Police list of interpreters who provide interpretation and translation services for victims,witnesses and suspects of crime who do not speak English.

Since the records system became electronic in 1996 we know that he undertook work as a Ukrainian language interpreter on one occasion in 1997 and six in 1999 as well as two translation assignments, totaling around 27 hours of work. It is likely he undertook work prior to 1996 as well.  We recognise that this may cause concern and that some professions may be incompatible with the role of an interpreter.

It may have been after one of these grueling translation sessions, while relaxing in a bar near the police station, that a Metropolitan Police offices alleges he heard Marunchak boast that he had relatives of the officers from the Soham murders police investigation on his payroll, a claim repeated by Tom Watson MP in Parliament

I believe the Metropolitan Police are sitting on an intelligence report from late 2002 that claims a police contact overheard Marunchak claim he was paying the relatives of police officers in Cambridgeshire for information about the Soham murders.  These are allegations that as far as we know have not been investigated.  I don't whether these intelligence reports are accurate, but I do know Alex Marunchak was involved in writing stories about how the Manchester United shirts of those young girls were found.

This wouldn't be the only time Marunchak was brought up by Tom Watson in Parliament, who made a series of serious allegations about Alex Marunchak and others about the murder of Daniel Morgan under parliamentary privilege, to which Marunchak responded to by denying all the allegations made.

So the question remains, if all these allegations are true, if there's so much money being put into the police investigations into computer hacking through Operation Tuleta, why has Marunchak not been arrested? 

Related Articles
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 1: Questions Still Unanswered
Operation Tuleta - A Second Look
Some Intriguing Hackgate "Known Unknowns"
BBC News - Lord Mandelson approaches police over 'e-mail hacking'
Daily Telegraph - Investigation over ex-Met chief's missing diary
The Independent - After 25 years and five inquiries, who did murder Daniel Morgan?

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

The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 1: Questions Still Unanswered

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or BOTH?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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