Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

Oh dear.....

Scapegoat needed quickly.

Police helped rogue private eye to steal criminal records... then covered it up: Serving officers illegally aided master blagger working for blue-chip firms

Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) knew five years ago that private detectives were using serving police officers
They would illegally obtain access to confidential criminal records
SOCA had previously refused to hand over names of blue-chip companies
They said corruption should have been investigated by Metropolitan Police

By Robert Verkaik And Abul Taher

PUBLISHED: 22:24, 31 August 2013 | UPDATED: 23:18, 31 August 2013 Daily Mail


Britain's equivalent of the FBI faces accusations of suppressing sensational evidence of police corruption at the heart of the blue-chip blagging' scandal.

The Mail on Sunday can today reveal that the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) knew five years ago that private detectives were using serving police officers to intrude on private individuals and illegally obtain access to confidential criminal records.

The details emerged in witness statements, emails and other documents shown to a Crown Court judge, who has conceded that it could represent credible evidence of corruption.
The private detective looked for confidential information about Johan Erik Boman, former husband of Polish-born ex-model Beata Boman (pictured). She made the headlines when she was spotted kissing Prince Andrew

The private detective looked for confidential information about Johan Erik Boman, former husband of Polish-born ex-model Beata Boman (pictured). She made the headlines when she was spotted kissing Prince Andrew

In a statement given to The Mail on Sunday, the Crown Prosecution Service said that in light of concerns surrounding the inquiry, which began in 2008, it had recalled the files and its lawyers were reviewing evidence which led to four private detectives being convicted.

Last night MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the new claims raised further questions about why SOCA has refused to hand over the names of 102 blue-chip companies which have links to corrupt private detectives.

Mr Vaz said: I am baffled as to why so much of this information has not been acted upon in the past five years. We need to know why this matter, a serious breach of the law, has gone unpunished.'
Despite evidence that private detectives had conducted illegal searches of criminal records on at least 32 occasions, SOCA appears to have failed to investigate, and not a single police officer has been questioned over the alleged offences.

To add to the confusion, when asked about the allegations, SOCA said that police corruption should have been investigated by the Metropolitan Police while Scotland Yard said it was a matter for SOCA.
Beate Boman has also been the victim of blagging, with six months of her bank statements accessed by Summers

Beate Boman has also been the victim of blagging, with six months of her bank statements accessed by Summers

The Mail on Sunday last week uncovered the names of 15 blue-chip companies linked to the rogue investigators sentenced for blagging. They appeared on a list belonging to a corrupt detective, John Spears. It is not suggested that the companies were aware anything illegal was being done.

SOCA already faces allegations that it is protecting firms by refusing to name those who hired private investigators (PIs) now known to be corrupt.

On Tuesday at a House of Commons meeting, MPs will challenge SOCA to release the identities of 102 firms linked to its investigation into the underground trade in personal banking data and other highly confidential information.
MP Keith Vaz said the claims raised further questions about why SOCA refused to hand over the names of 102 blue-chip companies which have links to corrupt private detectives

MP Keith Vaz said the claims raised further questions about why SOCA refused to hand over the names of 102 blue-chip companies which have links to corrupt private detectives

At the centre of the SOCA case, code-named Operation Millipede, are four corrupt private detectives. Last year Daniel Summers, 33, Graham Freeman, 52, former Metropolitan Police inspector Spears, 73, and another PI, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud people by blagging' personal information from banks and Government agencies.

A court transcript, unearthed by The Mail on Sunday, shows that Spears, who worked on the Brinks-Mat gold bullion robbery case, admitted to SOCA officers that he used serving police contacts to search confidential criminal databases.

The Mail on Sunday understands that Spears may have made more than 30 criminal record searches on behalf of security firms working for celebrities and City clients.

Durıng the sentencing in February last year, Judge Campbell raised hıs concerns wıth the Crown Prosecution Servıce about evidence of prıvate eyes usıng corrupt polıce offıcers.

Judge Campbell told the barrıster for the CPS that usıng corrupt offıcers in thıs way went beyond the charges of making false representatıons' or blagging' information.

But he saıd that although there may be evidence of police corruption' he could only sentence the private detectives for what they had been charged and to what they had pleaded guılty.

SOCA officers questioned Spears about these searches, which he code-named club searches'. SOCA said this label referred to police checks of the National Criminal Database.

According to the transcript, in SOCA interviews Spears admitted he could ring up and say, would you do a criminal records check for me? And he would give me a price and he would do it'.
PIs may have conducted a UK criminal records check on Spanish-based retired surgeon and pilot David Jackson, right, in May 2007

PIs may have conducted a UK criminal records check on Spanish-based retired surgeon and pilot David Jackson, right, in May 2007. Emails show the firm acted for a female client. Mr Jackson, 72, said: 'I haven't the foggiest why anybody would do a search on me.'

This is illegal as only police officers or government agency staff are allowed to use these databases to carry out authorised searches. The majority of the checks were carried out on behalf of a now defunct corporate investigations company called Modus International (Forensics) based in West London.

Last night the company's former director Max Hattersley-Hoskinson admitted he had worked with Mr Spears up until 2003 but denied ever commissioning him to carry out criminal records searches.

THE BLAGGER, THE SOCIALITE AND THE ANTIGUA CONNECTION

Spears told a client he could use old colleagues' in the National Drug And Money Laundering Control Policy Unit in Antigua, below, to do a records check on the ex-husband of New York socialite Beata Boman, who made headlines when she was seen kissing Prince Andrew in 2008

He described Spears as an old retired copper' and an accomplished investigator'.

Celebrity security firm Greymans appears on Spears' list along with the words club search'. A spokesman for the firm, which has ceased trading, confirmed that it had commissioned Spears three times a year between 2001 and 2003 but denied that it had ever asked him to do anything illegal or was aware that he had done anything illegal.

In an email referred to in court, sent by Spears to a contact in 2008, he promised he could use old colleagues', who SOCA presumed were serving police officers, in the National Drug And Money Laundering Control Policy Unit based in Antigua to carry out a criminal records check.

'He described his source at the unit as ultra-sensitive' who provided very, very confidential information'.

In that case, the private detective was looking for confidential information about Johan Erik Boman, former husband of Polish-born ex-model Beata Boman. Ms Boman told The Mail on Sunday she thought the unnamed overseas clients' were probably looking to recover debts from her ex-husband.

Ms Boman, a New York socialite, made headlines when she was seen kissing Prince Andrew in 2008.

She has also been the victim of blagging, with six months of her bank statements accessed by Summers.
Old colleagues in the National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy Unit in Antigua were used to do a records check

Old colleagues in the National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy Unit in Antigua were used to do a records check

SOCA said last night that police corruption stemming from Operation Millipede was a matter for the Met. But a Met spokesman told The Mail on Sunday that no police officer had been questioned.
Tory MP Rob Wilson said last night: That SOCA and the Met have apparently seen fit to sit on the evidence and therefore effectively cover it up is scandalous.'

A CPS spokesman said: We have retrieved the file in this case from our archives and are in the process of reviewing the papers.

This is a substantial task and is likely to take some weeks. We will not be in a position to provide any information on this case until that process is completed.'