Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

Last night, watching BBC2's Newsnight, I briefly stirred from slumber when their film used first hand insider sources (unidentified) to reveal how Met Police corruption went down.

The problem for any rozzer seeking to sell information to a hack is the electronic audit trail. Every key stroke on a police computer is recorded and can be accessed retrospectively by Professional Standards/Internal Affairs cops.

So, how did these corrupt cops get round the electronic audit trail?

Allegedly, they set the NOTW hacks up as Confidential Informants. This automatically took all activity outside all standard electronic audit.

If this allegation is true - again, that Met Police officers set up NOTW journalists as Confidential Informants (ie protected intelligence sources) - then the Met is in deep deep trouble.

The more humorous colour is that the payments would often take place in a drive-thru McDonalds near Wapping, where the cash would be handed over in a brown paper bag over a Royale with Cheese.

Some things change.

Some things stay the same.

I am reliably informed that, in most British police forces, approval to set up and run a Confidential Informant can only be granted by an officer of Detective Inspector rank or above.

If this is correct, the corruption must involve senior officers.