Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Magda Hassan]

Glenn Mulcaire forced to reveal who gave phone-hacking order

Investigator used by the News of the World told to reveal who told him to hack Max Clifford assistant's phone

• Lisa O'Carroll
  
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 July 2012 15.48 BST
  

Glenn Mulcaire was due to hand over the information in relation to the hacking of the phone of Nicola Phillips phone at 4pm on Wednesday. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator used by the News of the Worldhas been forced to reveal who ordered him to hack the phone of an assistant to PR Max Clifford in compliance with a supreme court order.
He was due to hand over the information in relation to the hacking of the phone of Nicola Phillips phone at 4pm on Wednesday.
But a high court judge, Mr Justice Vos ruled this information should only be handed to her barrister, her solicitor and to the Metropolitan police and could not be shared by other litigants who are suing News International over alleged phone hacking.
He will hold a separate one-day hearing to determine how widely the Mulcaire witness statement could be shared on 30 July, he said.
Lawyers acting for 50 phone-hacking victims argued at a case management conference hearing on Wednesday that this information could be critical to their claims.
Vos agreed there was some merit in their argument, but said he did not want to make "a knee-jerk decision" as he could "foresee there are difficult questions that affect his rights, his article 6 rights".
Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights relates to an individual's right to a fair trial.
Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 for charges in relation to hacking of phones of members of the royal household, had argued that disclosure could leave himself open further prosecution.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul...CMP=twt_fd

[Magda Hassan]

FWIW.
[URL="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/murdoch-resigns-from-news-corp-boards/story-e6frf7k6-1226431949636"]

[URL="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/murdoch-resigns-from-news-corp-boards/story-e6frf7k6-1226431949636"]

AUSTRALIAN businesses are among the more than one dozen News Corporation boards from which chief executive Rupert Murdoch has resigned.

[/URL]

The move has raised speculation about whether Mr Murdoch is preparing to distance himself - or even sell - his newspaper group.The company told staff in Britain and revealed in UK regulatory filings over the weekend that its boss had last week resigned as a director of News Corp subsidiary boards in Britain, the US, Australia and India.News Corp did not say Mr Murdoch had resigned as a director of its leading Australian titles, such as The Australian, The Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph.It does mean that the 81-year-old media baron is no longer a director of the companies behind iconic British newspapers The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, a News International spokeswoman said.The resignations follow a turbulent period for the Murdochs, in which the family's role in British media has been damaged by the phone-hacking scandal, amid arrests and the closure of the flagship News of The World tabloid."Last week Mr Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the UK and US," a spokeswoman for News Corp's British publishing arm, News International, said on Saturday.The company boards include News Corp Investments, News International Group and Times Newspaper Holdings.News Corp plans to split its entertainment division from its struggling, revenue-draining publishing business.Mr Murdoch has said he would be chairman of both companies, with analysts divided on whether he will sell down his stake in newspapers under shareholder pressure.The board resignations will raise anxiety among staff at the company's Australian arm, News Ltd, which is the nation's biggest newspaper publisher.Chief executive Kim Williams last month announced plans to restructure and shed staff, amid plunging circulation and dire forecasts for the future of newspapers.Mr Murdoch's latest moves were revealed in an email to News International newspaper staff and cited by British media.It played down the development as "no more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise ... part of the preparation of the business for the upcoming restructure into two companies".The memo said Mr Murdoch remained fully committed as chairman of what would "become the largest newspaper and digital group in the world".Media analyst Claire Enders told Britain's The Telegraph that Mr Murdoch and his son James's earlier resignations came because they were no longer welcome in the UK and their departure would be "complete and permanent".

Mr Murdoch has not commented yet, even on his favoured social media, Twitter.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breakin...6431949636[/URL]

[Jan Klimkowski]

The charges:

Phone hacking: full list of charges

CPS announcement of the charges facing Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson and six other individuals

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 July 2012 11.58 BST


Statement from Alison Levitt QC, principal legal advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP):

This statement is made in the interests of transparency and accountability to explain the decisions reached in relation to Operation Weeting.

During June and July 2012, the Crown Prosecution Service received files of evidence from the Metropolitan Police Service, relating to 13 suspects. This has followed a period of consultation and co-operation between police and prosecutors which has taken place over many months.

All the evidence has now carefully been considered. Applying the two-stage test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors I have concluded that in relation to eight of these 13 suspects there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction in relation to one or more offences.

I then considered the second stage of the test, applying the DPP's interim guidelines on assessing the public interest in cases involving the media, and I have concluded that a prosecution is required in the public interest in relation to each of these eight suspects.

The eight who will be charged are: Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Glenn Mulcaire, Greg Miskiw, Ian Edmondson, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup.

They will face a total of 19 charges in all. The full wording of all the charges will be made available, which will include the names of others whom the prosecution say are victims, but for now I shall summarise them as follows.

All, with the exception of Glenn Mulcaire, will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006. The communications in question are the voicemail messages of well-known people and/or those associated with them. There is a schedule containing the names of over 600 people whom the prosecution will say are the victims of this offence.

In addition, each will face a number of further charges of conspiracy unlawfully to intercept communications, as follows:

Rebekah Brooks will face two additional charges:

the first relates to the voicemails of the late Milly Dowler

the second to the voicemails of Andrew Gilchrist

Andrew Coulson will face four additional charges, relating to the following victims:

Milly Dowler

the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

the Rt Hon Charles Clarke, and

Calum Best

Stuart Kuttner will face two additional charges, relating to:

Milly Dowler and

the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

Greg Miskiw will face nine further charges, relating to the following victims or groups of victims:

Milly Dowler

Sven-Goran Eriksson

Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie

Andrew Gilchrist

the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

Delia Smith

the Rt Hon Charles Clarke

Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and

Wayne Rooney

Ian Edmondson will face a further eleven charges, relating to the following victims or groups of victims:

the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

the Rt Hon Charles Clarke

Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller

Mark Oaten

Wayne Rooney

Calum Best

the Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills

the Rt Hon Lord Prescott

Professor John Tulloch

Lord Frederick Windsor

Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills

Neville Thurlbeck will face a further seven charges in relation to the following victims or groups of victims:

Milly Dowler

Sven-Goran Eriksson

the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

the Rt Hon Charles Clarke

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Mark Oaten

the Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills

James Weatherup will face a further seven charges in relation to the following victims or groups of victims:

the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

the Rt Hon Charles Clarke

Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Wayne Rooney

the Rt Hon Lord Prescott

Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills

For legal reasons, Glenn Mulcaire does not face the first of these charges. However, he will face four charges, relating to:

Milly Dowler

Andrew Gilchrist

Delia Smith, and

the Rt Hon Charles Clarke

In relation to three of the remaining suspects, I have concluded that there is insufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction. It follows that no further action will be taken in relation to them. Because others are now about to be charged, it would not be appropriate for me to give reasons for these decisions at this stage.

There are two suspects in relation to whom the police have asked me to defer making a decision whilst further enquiries are made. For this reason I do not intend to give their names or say anything further about them at this stage.

The 11 suspects have this morning been informed of my decision. They are all due to answer their bail at police stations. When they do so, the eight whom I have already named will be charged. Following charge, these individuals will appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on a date to be determined.

The police intend to contact all the victims who will then be told that their names appear on the indictment. Once all have been informed the full list of those whom the prosecution says were victims will be made available.

May I remind all concerned that these eight individuals now will be charged with criminal offences and that each has a right to a fair trial. It is very important that nothing is said, or reported, which could prejudice that trial. For these reasons it would be inappropriate for me to comment further.

Charges in full:

Charge 1: Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Greg Miskiw, Ian Edmondson, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup, between the 3rd day of October 2000 and the 9th day of August 2006 conspired together, and with Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of well-known people and those associated with them, including but not limited to those whose names appear on schedule 1.

Charge 2: Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Glenn Mulcaire, Greg Miskiw and Neville Thurlbeck, between the 9th day of April 2002 and the 21st day of April 2002, conspired together and with persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Amanda Dowler, also known as Milly Dowler.

Charge 3: Greg Miskiw and Neville Thurlbeck, between 13th day of May 2002 and the 29th day of June 2006, conspired together and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Sven-Goran Eriksson and persons associated with Sven-Goran Eriksson, including Faria Alam.

Charge 4: Greg Miskiw between the 22nd day of October 2002 and the 21st day of July 2006, conspired with Glenn Mulcaire and with persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie and those associated with Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie, including Matthew McGuiness.

Charge 5: Rebekah Brooks, Glenn Mulcaire and Greg Miskiw, between the 3rd day of December 2002 and the 22nd day of January 2003, conspired together and with persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Andrew Gilchrist.

Charge 6: Andrew Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Greg Miskiw, Ian Edmondson, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup, between the 1st day of January 2004 and the 29th day of July 2006, conspired together and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of persons associated with The Right Honourable David Blunkett MP, including some or all of the following: Kimberley Quinn, Sally King (nee Anderson), Andrew King, John Anderson and Jason Carey

Charge 7: Glenn Mulcaire and Greg Miskiw, between the 28th day of February 2005 and the 12th day of March 2005 conspired together and with persons unknown to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Delia Smith and of persons associated with Delia Smith, including Michael Wynn-Jones and Ian Christmas.

Charge 8: Andrew Coulson, Glenn Mulcaire, Greg Miskiw, Ian Edmondson, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup, between the 6h day of April 2005 and the 22nd day of June 2005, conspired together and with persons unknown to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of persons associated with The Right Honourable Charles Clarke, who included either or both of the following: Hannah Pawlby and Lucy Pawlby.

Charge 9: Greg Miskiw, Ian Edmondson and James Weatherup between the 1st day of July 2005 and the 1st day of June 2006, conspired together, and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Jude Law and persons associated with Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, who included some or all of the following: Jade Schmidt, Archie Keswick and Ben Jackson.

Charge 10: Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup, between the 5th day of July 2005 and the 4th day of May 2006, conspired together, and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of persons associated with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who included Eunice Huthart.

Charge 11: Ian Edmondson and Neville Thurlbeck, between the 9th day of January 2006 and the 6th day of May 2006, conspired together and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Mark Oaten.

Charge 12: Ian Edmondson and James Weatherup, between the 17th day of January 2006 and the 1st day of August 2006, conspired together, and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Wayne Rooney and persons associated with Wayne Rooney, who included either or both of the following: Laura Jane Rooney and Patricia Tierney.

Charge 13: Greg Miskiw, between the 17th day of January 2006 and 1st day of August 2006 conspired with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Wayne Rooney and persons associated with Wayne Rooney, who included either or both of the following: Laura Jane Rooney and Patricia Tierney.

Charge 14: Andrew Coulson and Ian Edmondson, between the 23 March 2006 and the 21st day of May 2006, conspired together and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Calum Best.

Charge 15: Ian Edmondson and Neville Thurlbeck between the 2nd day of March 2006 and the 26th day of July 2006, conspired with Greg Mulcaire and with persons unknown to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of The Right Honourable Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills.

Charge 16: Ian Edmondson and James Weatherup, between the 24th day of April 2006 and the 22nd day of June 2006, conspired together and with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of persons associated with The Right Honourable Lord Prescott, who included some or all of the following: Tracey Temple, Joan Hammell and Alan Schofield.

Charge 17: Ian Edmondson, between the 25th day of April 2006 and the 15th day of May 2006, conspired with Glenn Mulcaire and with persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Professor John Tulloch and persons associated with Professor John Tulloch, who included some or all of the following: John Davies, Maire Messenger Davies and Janet Andrew.

Charge 18: Ian Edmondson, between the 25th day of April 2006 and the 1st day of June 2006, conspired with Glenn Mulcaire and persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Lord Fredrick Windsor.

Charge 19: Ian Edmondson and James Weatherup, between the 15th day of May 2006 and the 29th day of June 2006, conspired together and with Glenn Mulcaire and with persons unknown, to intercept communications in the course of their transmission, without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, and of persons associated with Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, including some or all of the following: Fiona Mills, Stuart Bell, Alan Edwards and Chris Terrill.

[Peter Lemkin]

...and what of Cameron and his ilk???!.....some of those accused were his best buddies and hacks.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Why was this evidence of who gave PI hacker Mulcaire his orders withheld from police in the first place?

Phone hacking: Met wins access to Glenn Mulcaire statement

Police win high court order to see statement naming those Mulcaire says ordered him to hack phones at News of the World

Lisa O'Carroll
guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 July 2012 17.33 BST

The Metropolitan police has won a high court order giving detectives access to a statement in which the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire names those who he says ordered him to hack phones at the News of the World.

Justice Vos said at a high court hearing on Monday that it would be wrong if Met officers investigating alleged crime at the now-defunct Sunday paper were "kept in the dark" while investigating "serious allegations" of wrongdoing.

Vos added that there was "plainly a public interest" in the investigation of potential crime and although Mulcaire was "one brick in a very large wall", the statement should be handed over.

After a supreme court ruling earlier this month, Mulcaire was compelled to answer questions posed by lawyers for a phone-hacking claimant, PR consultant Nicola Phillips, about who instructed him to hack her phone.

Ordering disclosure of the statement to the Met, Vos said: "It would be most unfair if the police investigating these serious activities should be held in the dark."

The court was told that Mulcaire "names names" in his witness statement handed over to Phillips's lawyers on 20 July. Lawyers for phone-hacking claimants feared that Mulcaire would say he could not remember who at the News of the World ordered him to hack phones and this is the first time it has been revealed that he identified individuals.

"He answered the questions naming names, rather than saying I don't remember," said Vos. "The Mulcaire statement does contain positive information which may be of some benefit to the police investigation."

However, in a second order Vos banned phone-hacking victims from knowing the contents of this witness statement in a bid to stop it leaking out. He said he was concerned that if it went to a potential 400 claimants, it would come out accidentally.

But he ordered that the Mulcaire statement could be seen by lawyers acting for phone-hacking victims.

He reminded all present in court that a contempt of court offence was in place if the contents of the Mulcaire statement was leaked by anyone including press, claimants and lawyers.

"In many more normal cases the cat may be, as one might say, out of the bag," he said, noting that an informal arrangement not to mention anything in relation to the contents of the Mulcaire statement in open court had created an effective wall of confidentiality.

The hearing was the seventh case management conference on hacking in relation to at least 50 new claims being made against News International.

Earlier on Monday the court heard that claimants had made new allegations against News of the World publisher News International, which the company said it believed were "unsustainable". These allegations were related to "exemplary damages" claims but were not identified in court.

[Jan Klimkowski]

The Murdoch crime family "put personal interests ahead of those of shareholders".

Well, Stone The Fucking Crows, there's a revelation...... Not.

I didn't notice these shareholders bleating when the profits were rolling in and the alleged criminal behaviour was rife.

News Corp shareholders in US want to sue over phone hacking scandal

Murdoch family put personal interests ahead of the company's, shareholders allege, as they ask judge to amend earlier lawsuit

Dominic Rushe in New York

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 September 2012 16.29 BST


Shareholders in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp are asking a US court for permission to sue the firm's board for failing to stop the phone hacking scandal.

The shareholders asked Delaware judge John Noble on Wednesday to proceed with their case against Murdoch, his sons Lachlan and James and the rest of the company's board. News Corp is attempting to have the case dismissed.

In all, 50 people have been arrested in connection with the scandal, News Corp has closed its most profitable newspaper, the News of the World newspaper, and lost a deal to take over the BSkyB satellite broadcast business.

The shareholders, including America's Amalgamated Bank and Central Laborers' Pension Funds, charge the company's executives put their own interests ahead shareholders and treated the firm as a "family candy jar".

The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2011 over News Corp's agreement to buy Shine, a TV production company owned by Elizabeth Murdoch, the News Corp chairman's daughter, for $670m. It was amended after the phone hacking scandal emerged.

"All of this harm occurred because the board chose to protect those close to Murdoch rather than investigate the misconduct when it learned about it," the shareholders said in June in their amended complaint.

"These revelations should not have taken years to uncover and stop. These revelations show a culture run amuck within News Corp and a board that provides no effective review or oversight," the shareholders charged.

Charles Elson, chair in corporate governance at the University of Delaware, said lack of board oversight was a difficult case to bring but that News Corp's dual class share structure could present the Murdochs with some challenges.

News Corp has two classes of shares, and the Murdochs' shares give them 39% of the company votes although the family owns about 15% of the equity.

"The chances of bringing these type of cases are usually pretty slim but here you have independence and conflict of interest issues vis a vis the board so there's more of a shot," said Elson.

Elson said the judges in Delaware, where News Corp and many other US firms are incorporated, were interested in the conflicts that dual class share structures present to shareholders. "In my view dual class share structures cast a shade over a board's independence," he said.

News Corp is under investigation by the US justice department under the foreign corrupt practices act which can impose heavy fines on US firms found to have bribed foreign officials.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Murkier and murkier.

Spookier and spookier.

Exclusive: News of the World hired detective firm linked with murder to spy on Met Chief

Revealed: Yard had undercover officer inside Southern Investigations for 9 years. Derek Haslam claims police failed to act on his intelligence

The Independent 17/9/2012

The News of the World hired private detectives to spy on a former Metropolitan police commissioner, Independent Voices can reveal.

Lord Stevens, who led Scotland Yard between 2000 and 2005, was placed under surveillance by Southern Investigations, a firm of private investigators linked to one of London's most notorious unsolved murders.

Its co-founder Jonathan Rees claims the defunct Sunday tabloid hired his company to watch Britain's most powerful policeman in 1999. He said Southern Investigations received a tip that the then-deputy commissioner was using taxpayer funds to fly a Metropolitan police plane up to Northumbria to see a mistress. There is absolutely no suggestion the tip off had any foundation.

At the time, it can also be disclosed that Scotland Yard had an undercover officer Derek Haslam - inside Southern Investigations who warned police that the firm was also trying to obtain other embarrassing information on the former Commissioner.

As well as selling the story to the News of the World, Haslam claims Southern Investigations also wanted to use the sensitive information to "control" Lord Stevens.

Haslam said: "I told my handler you'd better tell him they are on to him and they are looking at anything'. They saw filth on police and politicians as a way to control them."

However, in an interview with Independent Voices, Rees rejects the bombshell allegation as absurd.

Asked if he had Lord Stevens put under surveillance, he replied: "We were given instructions and an allegation that he was using a Met police plane from Biggin Hill to see his mistress in Northumbria.

"Now we did organise a surveillance team because it's what the News of the World wanted and we had team in Northumbria and here, but he never showed so whether the allegation is true or not, who knows.

"The allegation was that he was using…a Metropolitan police federation plane bought by donations from charity, and the petrol, the fuel, to travel up to Northumbria to see his mistress. You can see why people wanted…that story."

Haslam's take on Southern Investigations' activities is very different. During his nine years as a police "mole", he claims he told the Yard the firm was committing a vast array of crimes often on behalf of the News of the World.

Given the widespread criminality he was reporting back to his handlers, Haslam was astonished and confused when no-one was arrested. However, his suspicions were raised last July when the relationship between the Murdoch media empire, Scotland Yard and senior politicians came under intense scrutiny after it emerged that the News of the World hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 13.

The scandal led to the resignations of David Cameron's chief spin doctor Andy Coulson, two Scotland Yard police chiefs, ex-Murdoch lieutenant Rebekah Brooks and cost almost 300 jobs when the News of the World was forced to close after 168 years.

Following the recent revelations, Haslam now believes one reason for the Yard's inaction was "an unhealthy association between senior police officers and News International".

He refused to speak to Independent Voices because he is currently suing the Met. However, we obtained a confidential briefing he passed to investigators. The 65-year-old claims he told the Met that Southern Investigations was "a corrupt organisation that was corrupting police officers and illegally accessing all sorts of confidential information".

He added: "I told my handlers that MPs, ministers and Home Secretaries were targets. They fell into two categories, one they could earn money from and the other was to use blackmail, influence, to do their own thing. Anything that put the Met in a bad light, or anybody they could infiltrate or put in a bad light. It was about money and influence."

Rees described Haslam's allegations as "nonsense". He claims Scotland Yard asked Haslam to infiltrate Southern Investigations to invent "blatant lies" and smear them at a time when the firm was uncovering police corruption on behalf of the press.

He said: "Haslam was tasked by senior officers to…come in there and mix with us again and…to find out…what we were doing against CIB3…they knew we were investigating CIB3…it was a force within a force, they were given total autonomy to do whatever they liked, their own accounts, their own finances…history tells us that when you allow policemen to do that it goes wrong….if you let these squads run themselves it leads into trouble."

Rees claims to have seen the Met's applications for audio probes inside Southern Investigations' offices and said the Yard justified the intrusive surveillance because the firm might "undermine the structure and the moral wellbeing of the Metropolitan Police…or even bring it down".

He added: "We've got this poxy little firm of private investigators, half a dozen men, suddenly they are alleging that we were going to bring down the Met police. Good arguments to get your surveillance and come in and listen to what we are saying about them. They were abusing and using the process to see what we're doing against them. So a battle started….things got very dirty indeed."

Haslam's undercover work for the Met began in 1997 when he was asked to infiltrate Southern Investigations to gather evidence on Rees, who was a suspect for the murder of Daniel Morgan, the firm's co-founder who was found with an axe embedded in his skull in a south London pub car park in 1987.

He claims one of Southern Investigations main clients was former News of the World executive editor Alex Marunchak whose name was "constantly mentioned" inside the firm.

Haslam alleges the veteran journalist paid Southern Investigations to source confidential information from corrupt serving officers on celebrities and high-profile police chiefs, that reportedly included Tony Blair, Kate Middleton, Alastair Campbell, Jack Straw, Lord Mandelson, Lord Stevens, and John Yates a claim both Southern Investigations and Marunchak strongly deny. When asked about these allegations Mr Marunchak stated that he has never commissioned Southern Investigations to obtain any confidential information relating to celebrities, politicians, the Royal Family, police investigations, any third party or to commit any illegal acts.

Working under the codename "Joe Poulton", Haslam alleges he also told his handlers at the Met that Southern Investigations tried to obtain the new identities of people inside Scotland Yard's witness protection programme.

In one of his confidential reports to the Yard in 2006, seen by Indy Voices, Haslam warned the Met that Rees was paying visits to Epsom police station in Surrey "in an attempt to ingratiate himself with serving officers…to the detriment of the service". He added Rees described the trips as a "loss leader" as he could make money from his efforts.

In another section of the report, Haslam told the Met: "(Rees) still asks about accessing police sources for saleable information."

Perhaps the most shocking allegations from Haslam was that Southern Investigations burgled MPs' homes and photocopied documents in a bid to obtain embarrassing titbits they could sell to the News of the World.

Rees totally denies he was ever involved in anything illegal. He said: "The allegations in that report are not true…They know it's not true and the people who were instructing him didn't care. I think he was directed to make the worst report, the worst allegations he could…"

"He alleges that…(Southern Investigations) burgled an MP's garage to remove a briefcase, photographed the contents of the briefcase and put that back…that is a lie."

Later, he added: "We've got nine years of (Haslam) claiming we were involved in criminality. If there was one iota of evidence in there, CIB3 would have liked nothing better than to kick our door in and arrest us. They never did that, because there was no evidence there. It's in Haslam's fabricated reports …it's smoke and mirrors at its best…they will continue to do that to justify all the wrongdoings and corrupt gathering of evidence."

Haslam started his undercover work around the same time the Met launched a separate third investigation into the Morgan case, which the Yard publicly admits has been plagued by police corruption and remains unsolved 25 years later.

Codenamed Operation Nigeria, the seven-month probe which was separate to Haslam's work - was led by former Detective Superintentendent Bob Quick, who later rose to Assistant Commissioner rank in charge of Britain's fight against terrorism. The covert operation included bugs installed inside Southern Investigations' offices in Thornton Heath to record any discussion of the Morgan murder. During the inquiry, Quick said Scotland Yard became aware of the firm's close links to News International.

He told the Leveson Inquiry he recommended establishing an investigation into the relationship between journalists, private investigators and police officers in 2000. However, Quick claimed the Met never took up his proposal. In his witness statement to the Leveson Inquiry, he said Southern Investigations, acting on behalf of various News International journalists, obtained confidential information from serving police officers in order to sell stories to newspapers. "One of the journalists suspected was Alex Marunchak, an executive with the News of the World," he said. "During the operation it became clear that officers were being paid sums of between £500 and £2000 for stories about celebrities, politicians, and the Royal Family, as well as police investigations." Mr Marunchak was the News of the World's chief crime reporter before being promoted to the roles of executive editor and, finally, the paper's Irish editor.

This allegation is supported by a witness statement provided to police by Southern Investigations' book keeper Marjorie Williams, who claimed the News of the World used to invoice Southern Investigations up to 500 times a month via Marunchak.

She also alleged the firm paid £7,000 off his credit card and used to fund his child's school fees. Marunchak strongly denies any claim that Southern Investigations paid his debts. He stated that it is categorically untrue that Southern Investigations has ever paid monies into his credit card accounts or towards his children's school fees. He also stated that he has a "signed, witnessed, dated statement of truth" from the then bursar of his children's' school that confirms no-one except Marunchak ever paid fees .

Rees backs Marunchak's version of events. He said: "It is a serious allegation…why she says those things, I suspect there's some ill-feeling there…the police, right from the early days, have had our accounts…and there is not one slip or iota of evidence to show any of that is true.

"We never paid Alex Marunchak any monies… he never, ever asked us to pay his childrens' school fees."

During Operation Abelard the Met probe into the Morgan murder that followed Nigeria in 2002 - detectives managed to persuade another former employee of Southern Investigations, Richard "Boris" Zdrojewski, to give evidence against Rees. In his witness statement to police, seen by Indy Voices, he said one "particularly memorable job" was when the firm "fitted up" a police officer for a News of the World story. He stated that he arranged to meet a chief inspector in a McDonalds car park with some information on a bogus crime.

Mr Zdrojewski added: "I shoved (the papers) into his hands. He was photographed and his photo and report appeared in the News of the World to look like he was taking a bribe."

Rees said this is yet another allegation invented by police to discredit him. He added: "It is a ridiculous allegation…it's nonsense. The truth is that we were serving an injunction on a senior police officer who happened to be the head of the domestic violcene unit…we were serving an injunction from his wife because of domestic violence on her…that was a story."

Independent Voices can reveal that Lord Stevens had lunch with Rebekah Brooks, then editor of the News of the World, Alex Marunchak and Dick Fedorcio, the Yard's former press chief, in 2000 just months after the conclusion of Operation Nigeria.

Further links between Scotland Yard and News International emerged during Abelard, which commenced in June 2002. The senior investigating officer, detective chief superintendent Dave Cook, discovered that News International had apparently agreed to use photographers and vans leased to the News of the World to run surveillance on him and his family.

The defunct tabloid allegedly collected a huge amount of personal information on Cook and his wife Jacqui Hames following the policeman's appearance on BBC Crimewatch, when he appealed for information to solve the Morgan murder.

But when the Met discovered what was happening, the only action it took was to summon the then News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks into a meeting in January 2003 where she was told about the surveillance of Cook and about Marunchak's relationship with Rees. Brooks said the newspaper suspected the couple of "having an affair with each other" - despite Hames and Cook being married for four years with two children, and a profile of them appearing in Hello! Magazine. Marunchak denied any involvement in any attempt to target the couple and stated that he never commissioned Southern Investigations to obtain confidential information relating to Hames and Cook . He said his sole link was to receive a tip that Hames, who presented Crimewatch, was having an affair with a senior officer who appeared on the BBC show and passed it on to the News of the World newsdesk.

Ms Hames told the Leveson Inquiry that Brooks' excuse was "utterly nonsensical". She said: "I believe the real reason they placed us under surveillance was that suspects in the Daniel Morgan murder inquiry were using their association with a powerful and well-resourced newspaper to try and intimidate us and so attempt to subvert the investigation."

Rees said: "That anyone would try to intimidate a very senior high-ranking officer in charge of one of the most notorious investigations for the Met police…it's as if common sense has gone completely out the window."

During all this time, Haslam worked undercover at Southern Investigations until his cover was eventually blown in 2006 when his computer was allegedly hacked by his colleagues, who had become suspicious. Haslam said Scotland Yard offered him the chance to go into the witness protection programme a system he claims he saw repeatedly compromised by the agency.

Rees said this was "wholly untrue". It is understood Haslam turned down the offer of protection, decided he would look after himself and asked for a payout. However, this is thought to have been rejected by the Met.

The fifth and final investigation into the Daniel Morgan murder collapsed last year after Scotland Yard failed to disclose vital evidence to the defence and Rees was released from jail after spending 23 months on remand. In all, the probes have cost more than £30 million.

Detectives working on the various criminal probes into News International have arrested around 80 different people so far. Rees and Marunchak, who supplemented his News of the World income by working as a Ukrainian translator for the Met for 20 years, are not among them.

A spokesman for Lord Stevens denied flying a Met police plane to Northumbria and denied ever having a mistress. He added the ex-Commissioner was unaware he was under surveillance.

News International declined to comment. However, a source emphasised the company was now co-operating vigorously with the Met.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: "We are not prepared to discuss these matters."

[Jan Klimkowski]

And more from The Independent on the axe murder tale:

Exclusive: 'News of the World computer hacker' exposed Scotland Yard mole

After working undercover for nine years, murder suspect claims Derek Haslam was compromised by private detective with links to News International

The Independent
September 25, 2012


In his first interview since his release from jail (above), Jonathan Rees lifts the lid on hacking, alleged police corruption and his work for Rupert Murdoch's News of the World.


A POLICE "mole" who secretly infiltrated a private detective firm for Scotland Yard was exposed after he was identified by an alleged computer hacker with links to the News of the World.
Former Met police officer Derek Haslam worked undercover for nine years with Jonathan Rees, the co-founder of Southern Investigations, who was a suspect for one of London's most notorious unsolved murders.
However, the 65-year-old's cover as "Joe Poulton" was blown when the personal computer he used to send covert intelligence back to his police handlers was compromised by the alleged hacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The man who is a known associate of Rees and whom we shall call Mr Anderson - has previously been accused of computer hacking for the News of the World.
In an interview with Independent Voices, Rees said: "(Someone) gave (Mr Anderson) an IP address and he identified Haslam from that."
When asked if that was done through "legal means", he replied: "Well, there's ways and means, technical ways and means, I would imagine legal means…I think so, I don't know."
Haslam's undercover work for the Met began in 1997 when he was asked to infiltrate Southern Investigations to gather evidence on Rees, who was a suspect for the murder of his former business partner. Daniel Morgan, 37, was found with an axe embedded in his skull in a Sydenham pub car park in 1987.
Haslam claims one of Southern Investigations' main clients was News of the World executive Alex Marunchak whose name was "constantly mentioned" inside the firm.
While he was undercover, Haslam suspected his computer had been hacked in 2006 when it started "running slowly" at home in Norfolk.
He refused to speak to Independent Voices because he is currently suing Scotland Yard. However, we obtained a confidential briefing he passed to investigators.
He said: "I told my (handlers) something is up so they said they'd check it. I handed over my computer and they examined the hard drive and confirmed it had been hacked."
"They found a document on it and said any idea what this is' and I said that's one of my intelligence documents' and I said who's got it'? They said it's been taken off your computer'…and there's a virus been put on your computer."
At the time, Rees admits he was in possession of one of Haslam's 11-page intelligence reports to his handlers, which includes allegations that Southern Investigations burgled MPs to obtain embarrassing information it could sell to newspapers.
When asked how he got it, Rees replied: "I received…a copy of, er, this six-week window of his reports. Now, the police…believe that was (leaked to me) by a sympathetic source within (the Met).
When asked if Mr Anderson had hacked the report, Rees replied: "Not to my knowledge. That is something he denies…he absolutely denies it. We just can't say how that document was obtained."
However, a document dated 2012 written by Rees' lawyers seen by Independent Voices identifies Mr Anderson as the possible source.
"In late 2006 Rees received a document that appeared to be a print of a computer file, in the format of a draft report or reports to "handlers" by "Joe Poulton"," it read. "Rees was convinced from factual references that the author must be Derek Haslam."
In a footnote to the document, his lawyers wrote: "This seems to have been "hacked" from Haslam's computer by Mr Anderson."
A source close to Rees' legal team claims to possess a taped confession from Mr Anderson, who is said to admit hacking Haslam's computer.
When asked how the police obtained evidence on computer hacking, Rees replied: "It may have come from Mr Anderson's computer, but there won't be any links to me…and I would think nothing to do with Alex Marunchak, either."
When pressed on the allegation, he replied: "Thank God Mr Anderson was out there and exposed Haslam for what he was…if he did hack Haslam, good."
When contacted by Independent Voices, Mr Anderson said: "I cannot talk to you about any of this."
However - when told of the allegations in Rees' legal papers - he added: "That is something that they will have to justify and prove."
When asked whether he had made a confession of computer hacking, he replied: "Once again, they will have to justify, support and prove that."
Finally, when he was asked whether he legally identified Haslam "through an IP address", Mr Anderson replied: "That is really something that…you should take up with Jonathan Rees. I am not prepared to go into this discussion unless my solicitor is present."
In a bizarre twist, a freelance journalist who has known Rees and Mr Anderson for more than 15 years wrote openly to the Met in June 2007 and enclosed a copy of the Haslam intelligence report.
The undercover agent had mentioned Sylvia Jones in the briefing and the ex-crime reporter was complaining to Scotland Yard to say his allegations about her work were false.
When asked by Independent Voices how she obtained a copy of the potentially unlawfully obtained document, Jones said it had been posted to her anonymously shortly before she made the complaint. She did admit seeing an extract 12 months earlier but refused to say who showed it to her.
Last week, Independent Voices revealed Haslam warned his handlers that Southern Investigations were looking for "dirt" on police and politicians in a bid to "control" them.
We also disclosed how Southern Investigations put former Met commissioner Lord Stevens under surveillance in 1999.
Haslam worked undercover for nine years with Rees, trying to solve one of London's most high-profile unsolved murders. However, when his cover was blown he claims Scotland Yard offered him the chance to go into the witness protection programme a system he claims he saw repeatedly compromised by the agency.
Rees said this was "wholly untrue". It is understood Haslam turned down the offer of protection, decided he would look after himself and asked for a payout. However, this is thought to have been rejected by the Met.
He is now suing Scotland Yard for failing in its duty of care to protect him. It is understood one element of his case centres on the Met's failure to prosecute the offenders who compromised his computer.
Daniel Morgan's brother Alastair said: "Last week, it was disclosed that Derek Haslam worked undercover at Southern Investigations for nine years, passing back widespread intelligence of criminality to the Met, who did absolutely nothing about it.
"Now, we discover that Haslam who put his life on the line when he infiltrated this firm was exposed by an alleged computer hacker who has worked on behalf of the News of the World. Again, the Yard did absolutely nothing.
"The whole case just gets murkier and murkier. The only avenue left is for Home Secretary Theresa May to order a judicial inquiry into my brother's murder. The Met cannot be trusted to get to the bottom of all this."
The fifth investigation into the Daniel Morgan murder collapsed last year and Rees was acquitted. Detectives working on the various criminal probes into News International have arrested around 80 different people so far. Rees and Marunchak, who supplemented his News of the World income by working as a Ukrainian translator for the Met for 20 years, are not among them.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We are not prepared to discuss these matters."

[Magda Hassan]

Cameron, Brooks and the emails kept from Leveson

Prime Minister took legal advice on withholding dozens of 'embarrassing' messages from judicial inquiry

JAMES CUSICK , CAHAL MILMO


TUESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2012







Private emails between David Cameron and the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks have been withheld from the Leveson Inquiry after the Prime Minister sought personal legal advice, The Independent can reveal.
The cache of documents, which runs to dozens of emails and is also thought to include messages sent to Andy Coulson while he was still a Rupert Murdoch employee, was not disclosed after No 10 was advised by a Government lawyer that it was not "relevant" to the inquiry into press standards.
The contents of the private emails are described by sources as containing "embarrassing" exchanges. They hold the potential to cast further light on the close personal relationship between the Prime Minister and two of the media mogul's most senior lieutenants.
However Mr Cameron, as part of legal briefings he received before and after his appearance before the inquiry, was said to have been advised that the Brooks-Coulson emails were outside Sir Brian Leveson's remit and so he did not need to offer them up to form part of his report, expected to be published next month.
Although the Leveson Inquiry agreed to keep private a number of text messages between Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks disclosed by News International after accepting that they were "irrelevant to its terms of reference", no agreement was made for any emails or texts originating from Downing Street.
Sources within the inquiry have indicated that while documents detailing Mr Cameron's meetings with media figures were received from No 10, it had received none of the Brooks-Cameron emails. An inquiry source confirmed: "Everything we got from No 10 we published."
During his evidence to the inquiry in June, Mr Cameron said his officials would continue to search for emails related to News Corps' controversial bid for control of BSkyB. He promised: "If any are found, I will make them available to the inquiry." Leveson sources said that No 10 had not subsequently told the inquiry it had turned up anything.
Downing Street told The Independent last night that "no further relevant material had been found" following the PM's appearance. Downing Street made no comment on who made the decision on what was deemed "relevant" and what was not. A spokeswoman said: "In common with previous Prime Ministers, the PM sought legal advice in order to co-operate fully with a judicial inquiry."
The disclosure of the existence of the emails may be embarrassing for Mr Cameron, who personally ordered the Leveson Inquiry in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
A senior Labour MP last night called for the dossier to be released, saying it was vital for the Prime Minister to have given full disclosure.
Chris Bryant, a victim of hacking who has been one of the leading campaigners on the issue, said: "If the Prime Minister has taken any steps to prevent any material, relevant or not whether texts, emails or notes of conversations, between David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and News International from coming into the public domain, then people will think this is yet another instance of the Prime Minister being less than straightforward with the country."
Mr Bryant, a shadow Home Office spokesman, said it should not be up to a lawyer inside Downing Street to decide whether a text or email was relevant to the Leveson Inquiry: "The PM must make sure that every single communication that passed between himself and Brooks and Coulson is made available to the inquiry, and more important, to the public."
The relationship between Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks, who is awaiting trial on charges she denies of conspiring to hack phones and conspiring to pervert the course justice, and Mr Coulson, who became the Conservative leader's media chief in 2007, was closely scrutinised by the inquiry.
The former editor of The Sun and the NOTW was asked by the inquiry's counsel, Robert Jay QC, about the frequency of contact between herself and Mr Cameron when she was News international's chief executive. She said they texted each other sometimes twice a week, occasionally signing off using the acronym LOL, which Mr Cameron stopped using when told it stood for "laugh out loud" and not "lots of love". Mrs Brooks did not mention email exchanges.
News International provided the inquiry with text messages between Mrs Brooks and Mr Cameron over three months between 2009 and 2011 which had been retrieved from her phone.
During Mr Cameron's evidence to the inquiry in June, its lawyer Robert Jay QC said it had been decided that all but one of the text messages was "irrelevant" to Lord Justice Leveson's terms of reference.
In the disclosed message, sent in October 2009, Mrs Brooks wished the then Leader of the Opposition good luck with his conference speech, adding that "professionally we're definitely in this together".
News International provided texts to the inquiry following a request under Section 21 of the Inquiries Act, which was used to compel witnesses to provide evidence.
No politician who gave evidence to Leveson did so under section 21 rules.
A spokesman for the Leveson Inquiry said: "We haven't given a running commentary on the background to evidence and we will not do so now."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/pol...12487.html

[Jan Klimkowski]

So, it's a sham.

Just have a confidential conversation, a nod and a wink, and rule entire swathes of evidence involving key players inadmissible.

Must keep the dirty secrets, ahem, secret.

Private emails between David Cameron and the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks have been withheld from the Leveson Inquiry after the Prime Minister sought personal legal advice, The Independent can reveal.
The cache of documents, which runs to dozens of emails and is also thought to include messages sent to Andy Coulson while he was still a Rupert Murdoch employee, was not disclosed after No 10 was advised by a Government lawyer that it was not "relevant" to the inquiry into press standards.
The contents of the private emails are described by sources as containing "embarrassing" exchanges. They hold the potential to cast further light on the close personal relationship between the Prime Minister and two of the media mogul's most senior lieutenants.
However Mr Cameron, as part of legal briefings he received before and after his appearance before the inquiry, was said to have been advised that the Brooks-Coulson emails were outside Sir Brian Leveson's remit and so he did not need to offer them up to form part of his report, expected to be published next month.

Meanwhile, Rupert handsomely rewarded his child protege:

Rebekah Brooks's News International severance deal worth 'about £7m'

Payoff package for the former News International executive is far in excess of the £1.7m speculated on after her departure

Dan Sabbagh and Patrick Wintour

The Guardian, Tuesday 16 October 2012


Rebekah Brooks received a payoff worth about £7m after resigning as chief executive of News International at the height of the Milly Dowler phone-hacking crisis in July 2011.

The exact figure has never been disclosed by the Murdoch company whose parent News Corporation holds its annual meeting on Tuesday but one source said they believed it was between £6m and £8m.

An intimate of Rupert Murdoch, Brooks started out as a secretary at the News of the World in 1989, becoming editor of the News of the World and the Sun in succession.

She retained Murdoch's confidence as the phone hacking crisis intensified. After the News Corp patriarch flew into London in July last year, he took Brooks out for dinner, declaring that she was his "top priority" when questioned in the street by journalists.

The payoff package, far in excess of the £1.7m that was speculated about after her departure, comprised cash payments for loss of service, pension enhancement, money for legal costs, a car and an office.

News International declined to comment on the sum involved, but company insiders stressed there were "clawback" arrangements, which mean Brooks would have to pay some of the money back in certain circumstances.

It is understood that payback would be enforceable if Brooks was to be found guilty of a criminal offence relating to her employment. She is currently facing charges relating to interception of communications and obstruction of justice.