Hackgate - The IPCC and Surrey's "Collective Amnesia"

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

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

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

MARIA WOODALL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STUART GIBSON

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

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

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

Now: Stuart Gibson is retired.

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

CRAIG DENHOLM  (ACPO level)

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

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

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

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

MARK ROWLEY (ACPO level)

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

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

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

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


PETER FAHY  (ACPO level)

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

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

DENIS O'CONNOR  (ACPO level)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This sorry Surrey saga is not over yet.


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

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

Hackgate - Major Upcoming Events

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

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

Rebekah Brooks: sequencing charges and court appearances

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

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

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

Glenn Mulcaire Supreme Court decision due any day

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

Charging decisions due under Operation Weeting

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

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

Batch 2  18 June, two journalists, RIPA

Batch 3  21 June, four journalists, RIPA

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andy Coulson: Procurator Fiscal to decide on trial for perjury

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

Contempt of the House: Hinton, Crone and Myler

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ray Adams and allegations of corruption

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Interesting times, watch this space...

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

Hackgate for Beginners - Current Police Operations

[Back to Past Police Operations]

The Sue Akers Operations

Currently there are four ongoing police operations led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers Head of Organised Crime & Criminal Networks within the Specialist Crime Directorate, one of the main branches of the London Metropolitan Police Service.  These are Operation Weeting, Operation Elveden, Operation Tuleta  and Operation Kalmyk.

The build up to Operation Weeting

Operation Weeting into allegations of phone hacking began on 26 January 2011, after the Metropolitan Police announced they had received a “significant amount” of information regarding the conduct of News of the World employees, and that it would take place alongside the previously announced review of phone hacking evidence by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

This “significant amount” of information was partly based on documents that had been originally seized as part of the 2006 police investigation Operation Caryatid into the interception of phone messages from Clarence House that resulted in News of the World journalist Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire being convicted in 2007, and triggered the resignation of Andy Coulson as editor of News of the World.

In 2009 the Guardian began publishing a series of articles claiming that the culture of phone hacking went far beyond what was discovered in Operation Caryatid, and that a wide range of people across different areas of public life had been victims of hacking.  News Corp and the News of the World strongly denied the allegations, and called on the Guardian to share any evidence they had with the police, while the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Paul Stephenson directed Assistant Commissioner John Yates to review Operation Caryatid. 

In a single 8 hour session Yates decided not to take any further action, a decision that was examined at the Leveson Inquiry.  Sir Paul Stephenson said John Yates had ruled there was no fresh material that could lead to convictions, and the force felt it couldn’t justify using resources to investigate the claims due to the focus on anti-terrorism at the time.  Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer told the Leveson Inquiry that he had asked John Yates to consider the contents of the “for Neville” email, but John Yates had told him " that it was not new, it had been seen before and thus I took from that he didn’t consider at that stage there was any point for investigation of [the] email.”.

After the police failed to take further action several public figures began legal proceeding against the News of the World owners News International, part of News Corp, and against Glenn Mulcaire.  Papers lodged in the High Court during litigation proceedings brought by Sienna Miller suggested that Ian Edmondson, a senior editor at the News of the World, was involved in work undertaken by Mulcaire.  This led to News International group general manger Will Lewis being tasked with reviewing any internal documents relating to the 2006 Goodman court case, leading him to re-examine all the files held by Harbotle and Lewis, who had defended News International against an unfair dismissal case brought by Clive Goodman in 2007, which uncovered even more questionable material. 

This material was passed onto a second legal firm, Hickman Rose, who in turn asked the former Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald to examine the evidence and report his findings to the News International board.  The report found evidence of a variety of criminal activity and recommended to the News International board the matter should be referred to the police, which it immediately did.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would immediately review the evidence collected during Operation Caryatid following by the Metropolitan Police announcing on January 26^th 2011 that it was launching Operation Weeting.

Operation Weeting

As of February 2012 DAC Sue Akers has said there’s currently 90 police officers working on Operation Weeting and related operations, reviewing 11,000 pages of evidence, with 5000 landline phone numbers and 4000 mobile phone numbers mentioned in the documents, and a potential 6349 victims and 829 likely victims as of February 2012. 

Currently 23 people have been arrested as part of Operation Weeting, including at least 15 individuals who have worked for News International or News International newspaper titles. 

On May 15^th Rebekah Brooks, her husband Charlie Brooks, News International security head Mark Hanna and 3 others were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, with Rebekah Brooks facing three separate counts.

Operation Elveden

This operation is running alongside Operation Weeting and is examining allegations of inappropriate payments made to police, and is supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).  As of January 10^th 2012 nine arrests have been made as part of Operation Elveden, including police officers and individuals who have worked for News International newspapers.

Operation Tuleta

Also running alongside Operation Weeting is Operation Tuleta, which is investigating allegations of computer hacking, with DAC Akers stating in February 2012 that there are currently 20 officers looking into 57 claims of “data intrusion” on behalf of journalists, examining 4 terabytes of data.

A handful of arrests have been made so far, but interestingly at least 2 of the arrests were for crimes unrelated to journalists, indicating Tuleta is investigating anyone suspected of commissioning hackers, not just journalists.

Operation Kalmyk

This operation is related to Operation Tuleta, and is believed to be related to allegations of the hacking of Ian Hurst’s computer by Phillip Campbell Smith on behalf of the News of the World.  Ian Hurst has stated he believes Phillip Campbell Smith was working for Jonathan Rees, who has been linked to the murder of Daniel Morgan (something I’ll examine in detail later), and was heavily involved with the News of the World.

Operation Rubicon

Separately to Operation Weeting and its related investigations the Scottish Major Investigation Teams under the command of Detective Superintendent John McSporran are investigating aspects of the evidence presented during the Tommy Sheridan perjury trial, along with specific claims of phone hacking and breaches of data protection in Scotland.  On May 2^nd Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond stated 40 police officers were currently working on the operation and the operation would take precedence over any inquiry the Scottish Parliament decided to set up.

Specific allegations by Tommy Sheridan’s solicitor Aamer Anwar include:

-       Allegations that witnesses gave perjured evidence in the trial of Tommy Sheridan.

-       Allegations that, in respect of persons resident in Scotland, there are breaches of data

-       Alleged offences determined from material held by the Metropolitan Police in respect of ‘phone hacking’ (Contraventions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000) and breaches of data protection legislation in Scotland.

-       Alleged instances of police corruption linked to the above two items.

On May 30th 2012 Andy Coulson was arrested and charged with perjury by Strathclyde Police.

Operation Baronet

Surrey Police’s investigation into the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone.  Currently said to be in the final stages of the operation, which is expected to be completed by the end of May.

[Forward to The Murder of Daniel Morgan]
[Index]

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Surrey Police and the Hacking of Milly Dowler's Phone

With this week's report to the Leveson Inquiry regarding the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone a regular reader has sent me this interesting theory relating to it:

The name of a serving senior Surrey Police officer, Craig Denholm, keeps cropping up in relation to the Milly Dowler phone-hacking.  Indeed, Surrey Police themselves are soon to conclude  an investigation into the handling of the 2002 Interceptions of Milly's mobile - Operation Baronet.  Denholm is at present Deputy Chief Constable of Surrey. In 2002, following Milly Dowler's disappearance, he was one of three officers who met with two News of the World news executives. The two journalists from the NotW volunteered that Milly Dowler's mobile number had been obtained and the content of her voicemails messages accessed.

Craig Denholm is one of several police officers who have spent their careers boomeranging between the Surrey force and the Metropolitan Police Service.  He first joined the Met in 1984 and spent time in CID on anti-corruption, drugs and intelligence work, and thence to NCIS (National Criminal Intelligence Services). He transferred to Hampshire Police for a relatively short time, subsequently moving to Surrey Police (for the first of his two Surrey stints) in 2001. He was a senior detective at the time of Milly's disappearance in 2002.

It appears that Denholm took no known action regarding his knowledge of Milly Dowler's mobile hacking by NotW. Was it then within Denholm's power to have taken action to stop the phone hacking scandal in 2002?

The present Assistant Chief Constable of Surrey, Jerry Kirkby, recently gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry and, in his first witness statement, he stated that he is in the closing stages of heading an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Surrey Police actions (and inactions) re the hacking of Milly's mobile. This is Operation Baronet, and one of its tasks - to date unconcluded - is securing evidence from 2002. On completing Operation Baronet, Surrey Police intend submitting their final report to the Leveson Inquiry, together with additional witness statements. Obviously, the Operation Baronet report may be submitted confidentially, or redacted to avoid prejudicing Operations Weeting or Elevedon.

The long-anticipated 11th Report, 'News International and Phone-Hacking', from the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee was published last week:
"The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee criticised the (Surrey) police for being told by reporters they had hacked into the Walton teenager's phone - but not investigating for another ten years."

Denholm's career flourished with Surrey Police - Head of Crime Management, then Divisional Commander, then attaining the rank of Assistant Chief Constable until leaving Surrey Police in 2008.

He followed a well-worn path, yet again, back to the Met.  He took up an appointment as Commander (Counter Terrorism) in Special Operations..... working directly with John Yates.  Denholm could not have failed to be aware of John Yates' self-confessed, "crap", one day quasi-review of the facts around Operation Caryatid - the Goodman-Mulcaire phone hacking investigation. Although leaving the Met in June 2009 (returning AGAIN to Surrey Police), Denholm must have been aware of the Guardian story breaking and becoming headline news in early July on radio and TV news programmes.

Clearly, this raises questions, as well as eyebrows.

Why/Did Denholm stay silent about his knowledge of NotW phone-hacking in 2002?

Did Denholm maintain that silence in 2009, or did he tell John Yates when the Guardian broke its phone scandal story in that July?

If he DID tell John Yates, did Yates ignore this then-new evidence?  Or did Denholm and Yates conceivably collude in suppressing their shared knowledge of NotW Milly Dowler mobile hacking?

It is now alleged too that the key meeting between Denholm and the NotW senior journalists was minuted - let's hope those minutes are amongst the 2002 evidence being secured by Operation Baronet.

On Monday May 4th, the Leveson Inquiry held an unscheduled hearing to address an application to make selected senior Government ministers
Core Participants.  Lord Justice Leveson's Ruling, accepting the application, was published on the Inquiry web site.

The same day, another written Ruling also quietly appeared on the Inquiry web site - unremarked amongst the furore about Government Core Participants. This additional May 4th Ruling addressed an application by the Metropolitan Police.  In essence, it sought to prevent or restrict Leveson's ability to criticise any individual current or former Metropolitan Police officer by name. Neither should Leveson, the Met asserted, even use any examples of behaviour which might allow identification of any un-named officer.  The Ruling is worth a read. Lord Leveson argues, elegantly and eloquently, that he retains the right to cite names or other relevant evidence. Otherwise, hog-tied, he could be accused of providing unsubstantiated and subjective findings in reporting on the "Culture, Practice and Ethics of the Press".  The example Leveson uses in his Ruling is John Yates.

The Met have 14 days from this May 4th Leveson Ruling to appeal via a Judicial Review.  It will be interesting to watch out for a possible appeal.... and to look forward to hearing more of Craig Denholm and Operation Baronet.

 Food for thought ahead of this week's Inquiry.

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