Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

FRU Computer Hacking Claims Linked to Murdoch

And it just keeps coming and coming.

Police investigate new computer hacking claims linked to News International

A police investigation is taking place into claims private investigators working for News International were involved in computer hacking.



By Jason Lewis, Investigations Editor
9:00PM BST 16 Jul 2011

The investigation is being carried out by detectives from Scotland Yard's Specialist Crime Directorate. It is separate from the phone hacking investigation.

The team of officers from Operation Tuleta are looking at the activities of individuals who were paid by News International, including a firm of private detectives offering "ethical hacking".

Officers are understood to be collecting evidence about the activities of a former Army intelligence officer who is said to have offered hacking services to the journalists.

The probe was prompted by allegations that Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein MP, was a British spy. They first surfaced in Irish newspapers five years ago and were vehemently denied by Republicans.

Unpublished documents relating to the claims have now been unearthed by Scotland Yard.

Magda - important find.

I'm intrigued by the appearance of this material in the (hardcore Tory) Daily Telegraph.

As you know, these are not "new" claims suddenly "discovered" by detectives.

This is about British military intelligence's dirty war in Northern Ireland.

Specifically, it's about the established phone hacking of an Inquiry into Operation Motorman by a PI named Steve Whittamore who had been hired by journalists from several newspapers. For more on Motorman, see DPF thread here.

It's also about the "unmasking" of a British intelligence asset known as Stakeknife (various spellings) high up in the IRA. Ultimately, Freddie Scappaticci, head of the IRA's "nutting squad", was named as Stakeknife. However many Republicans believe the British spy was higher up in IRA, and the finger has been pointed at Martin McGuinness - who has denied the allegation.

The FRU (Force Research Unit) was a covert British military intelligence unit in Northern Ireland which allegedly commissioned and allowed assassinations and atrocities to occur during "The Troubles".

"Martin Ingram" is a former FRU agent turned whistleblower. "Kevin Fulton" is a Roman Catholic turned FRU agent turned whistleblower.

This is deep politics, and dirty secrets that the British state does not want in the public domain.

One of the allegations is that a Murdoch journalist was hiring a PI to send "trojans" to grab the contents of emails and other material on the computers of "Ingram" and "Fulton".

It begs the fundamental question: who wanted this information, and was it to be used as leverage?

The secondary question is: why is the Tory Telegraph raising this spectre now? Who is being sent a warning?