Detective Chief superintendent David Cook (left) was allegedly under surveillance by News of the World during an investigation into the murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan (right)

Friday, March 30, 2012

#Leveson #Justice4Daniel :New police corruption alleged in secret report


Friday 30 March 2012


Andy DaviesHome Affairs Correspondent


Exclusive: Corrupt police officers are accused of deleting intelligence reports from the national police computer on the orders of criminal gangs in a secret report passed to the Leveson inquiry.



The confidential report produced by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in 2008, found that private investigators, linked to organised criminals, used corrupt serving and former police officers to delete intelligence records from law enforcement databases and access details of police operations. The report has been seen by Channel 4 News Home Affairs Correspondent Andy Davies.

The eight-page report, which has been passed to the Leveson inquiry into police corruption and media ethics, warns of "rogue" private investigators "providing organised crime groups with counter-surveillance techniques" and attempting to discover the identities of informants and witnesses under police protection.



The details in the report entitled "Private Investigators: The Rogue Element of the Private Investigation Industry and Others Unlawfully Trading in Personal Data" have never been disclosed publicly before, because the report is labelled "exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000".

Soca analysed five UK Law enforcement operations leading up to 30 September 2007. The report says: "Four of the operations provided examples of corrupt individuals including serving and former police officers, a bank employee, employees in a communications service provider, a public service employee, and a HM Prison Service Employee. All of these were used by private investigators to facilitate access to information."

The former head of anti-corruption at the Met Police, Bob Quick, told Channel 4 News: "There were occasions where cases involved officers removing evidence, destroying evidence.

"This was infrequent but when it occurred it was serious. There were indications that that relationships existed with private investigators and ex-police officers who were suspected of corruption."

"If police operations against serious criminals are being undermined then that's very significant for justice and safety in this country."

It is not clear what action has been taken in the wake of these findings. The Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Keith Vaz MP, told Channel 4 News on Thursday: "What we will have to do, and I will discuss this with colleagues on the committee, is to call in the then Home Secretary (Jacqui Smith) to ask whether or not she knew about what was going on, and certainly ask Soca to come in because this is signed off by Soca - they're supposed to be there to protect us from serious and organised crime. "

"If they knew that there was this widespread deletion of information, and the connection between private investigators and police officers who were involved in inappropriate action, it's very important that they come before the committee and explain themselves, as a matter of urgency."

The confidential Soca report details illegal acts by (unnamed) private investigators which go far beyond the sphere of privacy, describing how criminal gangs used private investigators to access police computers, enabling them to see - and even delete - evidence linked to live cases.



Under the heading Perverting the Course of Justice, the report records two operations providing:

"examples of private investigator activities which threaten to undermine the criminal justice system, as follows:

a. accessing the Police National Computer to perform unauthorised checks;

b. accessing internal police databases including those containing serving officers' private details;

c. unauthorised checking of details of vehicles involved in surveillance on PNC (Police National Computer);

d. accessing details of current investigation against a criminal or criminal group;

e. checking premises and vehicles for technical equipment deployed by law enforcement;

f. identifying current law enforcement interest in an organised crime group;

g. deleting intelligence records from law enforcement databases;

h. providing organised crime groups with counter-surveillance techniques;

i. accessing their own or associates' recorded convictions;

j. attempting to discover identity of CHISes (Informants)

k. attempting to discover location of witnesses;

l. attempting to discover location of witnesses under police protection to intimidate them;

m. accessing DVLA databases."



Currently there is no regulation of the private investigation industry, despite the fact that the Private Security Industry Act 2001 allowed specifically for licensing to be introduced. Anyone can undertake private investigative activity regardless of skills, experience or criminality. No one knows how many private investigators are operating in the UK. Estimates vary between 2000-10,000.

Soca warned the Home Office in its 2008 report: "The ability of the investigators to commit such criminality is supported by the absence of regulation in the industry, an abundance of law enforcement expertise either through corrupt contacts or from a previous career in law enforcement, easy access to specialist experts and abuse of legally-available technology."

A Home Office spokesperson told Channel 4 News: "We are considering whether to regulate private investigators. In the meantime they are subject to the law on intercepting communications like everyone else."

It is not known what Lord Leveson intends to do with this report of much wider police corruption than he is currently investigating.




http://www.channel4.com/news/new-police-corruption-alleged-in-secret-report

Thursday, March 29, 2012

#Leveson #C4News #SOCA : Channel 4 Revelations

Reporter Andy Davies from Channel 4 News tweeting information from SOCA....


Follow Andy here for latest updates....https://twitter.com/#!/adavies4


SOCA analysed 5 'law enforcement operations' under 'Project Riverside'...

"Reports of telephone interceptions - GBP 7,000 per month"...

#Leveson #Justice4Daniel -#corruption #beyondbelief -

Michael Doherty has exposed its now a constitional matter and he has secured a follow him on facebook

#Justice4Daniel : #C4 News Tonight - Shocking Revelations Of Bent Cops In The UK

#leveson #Justic4Danial - #RayAdams - Murdoch Is Served

BEYOND THE PANORAMA EXPOSE
[Update at end of post]

As if Rupe and his troops were not in enough trouble, what with the arrests of many senior Sun hacks and executives, and the continuing parade of litigants in the fallout from Phonehackgate, yesterday brought the suggestion from a BBC Panorama investigation that the fall of ITV Digital was not only not an accident, but that a Murdoch company was intimately involved.

Moreover, as is now coming clear, this may be just the tip of another significantly sized iceberg: the Independent has piled in on the affairs of NDS, founded in Israel back in 1988 but acquired by News Corporation in 1992 and subsequently becoming a world leader in satellite TV access technology, with its headquarters moving to Staines in west London.
With Panorama letting the thought enter that the hacking of the – supposedly un-hackable – access keys for ITV Digital, and the subsequent flooding of the black market with pirated copies, could have been done deliberately by NDS in order to hobble the rival in its battle with Murdoch’s Sky, the Indy also suggests that a rival to Rupe’s operations in Italy was also hacked that way.

And the computer hacking allegations don’t stop there: investigators are following up claims that a New Jersey based advertising firm and Murdoch rival had been hacked by News America Marketing. There had already been a civil lawsuit over the claims that had been settled out of court, when the Murdoch subsidiary shelled out almost $30 million to buy out its rival.....read more

http://zelo-street.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/murdoch-is-served-70.html

#Leveson #Justice4Daniel:#RayAdams- Murdoch Scandal Embroils Top Man From Scotland Yard

A former Scotland Yard commander is at the center of the latest allegations of misdeeds at News Corp. It’s not the first time that Ray Adams has come under fire. ...read more

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/29/latest-news-corp-scandal-embroils-company-s-man-from-scotland-yard.html

http://danielmorganmurderedbythemet.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/justice4daniel-ray-adams-links-to.html

#Justice4Daniel:#Pressreform #Leveson Inquiry: Day 18



Evidence of Malthouse, Crawford - latest links/info on Motorman and Dick Fedorcio.

#leveson #Justice4Daniel: #Fedorcio Has Resigned..

Metropolitan Police director of public affairs, Dick Fedorcio, has resigned, Scotland Yard confirms.

Details soon


Dick Fedorcio on why Neil Wallis was hired at the Leveson Inquiry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17349635

Statement from the METconfirming Fedorcio resignation.

http://themurdochempireanditsnestofvipers.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/leveson-f-quits-met-statement-in-full.html

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

#Leveson Judgement Concerning Daniel Morgan Murder (pdf)

#Motorman Revelations #pressreform: #Leveson Inquiry: Day 17




Today's evidence  and many links to Operation Motorman revelations from ITV News.

#Leveson #Justice4Daniel: #Motorman And Those Involved.

The #Motorman Files - A Reconstruction

#Leveson #Justice4Daniel : #MOTORMAN - Time To Open This Can Of Worms !

#Leveson #Justice4Daniel : Ray Adams Links To The Hacking Scandal!

After the allegations made in Panorama's Murdoch's Pirates an eagle eyed Something Awful forum member Daveman23 noted some interesting links between various individuals involved with groups and individuals mentioned in the Panorama documentry, including Ray Adams, former head of security of the Murdoch subsidiary NDS, that’s well worth a read:

That would be former Scotland Yard commander Ray Adams (and Head of Criminal Intelligence - organised crime basically) working for NDS as Head of Security. That's the same Ray Adams who is accused of interfering with the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and investigated for misconduct over his links with drug dealer, murderer and police informant Kenneth Noye and his associate Clifford Norris, father of David Norris (now in jail for Stephen Lawrence's murder). The report into corruption relating to Mr Adams was withheld from the Macpherson report into the murder...readmore

http://brown-moses.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/links-between-ray-adams-and-others.html

Saturday, March 10, 2012

#Leveson :Daniel Morgan murder: Memorial stone marks 25th anniversary

The memorial to Daniel Morgan Daniel Morgan's memorial stone has been placed at Glasbury church in Powys

Related Stories

A memorial to the murdered private detective Daniel Morgan has been placed in a Powys church yard to mark the 25th anniversary of his death.
Mr Morgan, 37, originally from Llanfrechfa, near Cwmbran, was found with an axe in his head in a south London pub car park in 1987.
His grave is in London, but his elderly mother wanted a memorial closer to her home in Hay-on-Wye.
The murder has been investigated five times, but no-one has been convicted.
Mr Morgan's mother Isobel Hulsmann, 84, and her daughter Jane Royds, who lives in Glasbury, near Hay-on-Wye, have placed the memorial stone in Glasbury church yard.
"They will put a few flowers on the memorial on Saturday," said Mr Morgan's brother Alastair, who lives in London.
"They wanted somewhere close to hand in memory of Daniel, and put up the memorial a few days ago to mark the 25th anniversary of his death.
"My mother's 84 now and travelling to and from London takes its toll."
A judicial inquiry has not been ruled out into Mr Morgan's murder.
Last month, UK Policing Minister Nick Herbert said Home Secretary Theresa May was still considering whether to order one, but other investigations might be more appropriate.
Until his death, Mr Morgan worked with Jonathan Rees at Southern Investigations.
Mr Rees was one of five men accused of murdering Mr Morgan in 2008, but after almost two years of legal wrangling, the trial collapsed in March 2010 when "supergrass" evidence was deemed to be unreliable.
Daniel Morgan Daniel Morgan was murdered in 1987 but no-one has ever been found guilty
The murder of Mr Morgan was raised at the Leveson inquiry into media standards and ethics last month in evidence from former Metropolitan Police detective and BBC Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames.
She told the inquiry that she and her husband, Det Chief Supt Dave Cook, were placed under surveillance by the News of the World after he appeared on Crimewatch seeking information about Mr Morgan's murder.
Ms Hames told the inquiry that Southern Investigations had "close links" to Alex Marunchak, the newspaper's crime editor in the late 1980s.
News International said last month it had "no comment" to make on Ms Hames's statement to the Leveson inquiry.
Meanwhile, MP Tom Watson has said he wants Daniel Morgan's death to be examined by the Leveson inquiry into media standards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-17302695

Friday, March 9, 2012

#Leveson : 25 years of injustice for the family of Daniel Morgan at the hands of the Met and NOTW…

image

HOME SECRETARY FACING WIDESPREAD DEMAND FOR JUDICIAL INQUIRY INTO MURDER OF DANIEL MORGAN

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the brutal murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan. In the long years since his killing, there has been an organised cover up to protect his killers.
Every police ‘investigation’ has either failed, been derailed from within or resulted in failure in the criminal courts. ......read more

http://newsallianceuk.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/25-years-of-injustice-for-the-family-of-daniel-morgan-at-the-hands-of-the-met-and-notw/

#Leveson Inqiury: What Is Justice - Daniel ?




pic.twitter.com/KBPrbxMT

In Loving Memory Of Daniel Morgan Murdered In Cold Blood By A Merciless Coward. May Justice Be Just A Whisper Away.



Tonight was to be the last night 25 years ago Daniel Morgan would ever see.

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen and down the mountain side
The summer's gone and all the roses dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bye

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
And I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy I love you so

But if he comes and all the roses dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
He'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an ave there for me

And I shall feel, how soft you tread above me
And then my grave will richer, sweeter be
For you will bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall rest in peace until you come to me

#Leveson: Bob Quick Statement Is Now Online






MP Damien Green used one phone call after arrest to ring Andy Coulson - Green called former News of the World editor after he was held over alleged Home Office leaks, says police officer

#Leveson: #MET Archived Investigation On The Murder Of Daniel Morgan

#Leveson Inquiry: The Murder Of Daniel Morgan by Jack of Kent.

I have recently become interested in the case of Daniel Morgan, who was killed in March 1987.

Morgan worked as a private investigator.  His business partner was Jonathan Rees, who later became one of the main private investigators used by Fleet Street.  Rees was first arrested in connection with the murder in 1987; and in March 2011 he was acquitted of the murder when a trial collapsed at the Old Bailey.

The original police investigation into the death of Morgan was worse than desultory; it was undoubtedly corrupt.   There were then a number of inquiries and case reviews, none of which ended with a successful prosecution.  Over 25 years the case smacked of police corruption and systemic failure.  In this way, the case is akin to that of Stephen Lawrence....read more

http://jackofkent.com/2012/02/daniel-morgan/

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

#Leveson Inquiry : Jennifer Elliott Is Dead - Does She Not Deserve Justice - Who Will Cry For Jennifer ?

Daniel Morgan's family fight on but what about Jennifer who was driven to her death by Murdoch's Empire, who will fight for Jennifer and the justice that is her's and hers alone? Unless the police officer is named and shamed Jennifer can never rest in peace....And remember there is no one left to cry for Jen. Not one shred of media coverage about  Elliott's life and how The News of the World forced her fragile soul to hang herself one lonely desperate day in the year of 2003. However,Murdoch's staff members, two, are alleged to have tried to take their own lives and have FULL media coverage ! maybe they fear for what they know they have done to victims like Jennifer and the mother of Charlotte Church.


http://themurdochempireanditsnestofvipers.blogspot.com/2012/03/leveson-inquiry-murdoch-suicides-what.html

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Saturday, March 3, 2012

#Leveson Inquiry:Marunchak: Tom Watson allegations 'absolutely untrue'

1 March 2012

Yesterday, Tom Watson MP made a series of allegations about former News of the World journalist Alex Marunchak, the News of the World and the murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan in 1987.

During a Commons adjournement debate he claimed that Daniel Morgan went to Muranchak with a story making allegations about police corruption a week before he died, that he was offered £40,000 for the story and that Marunchak also paid the relatives of police officers for information about the Soham murders in 2002.

Watson saic that two of the men arrested on suspicion of the Morgan murder were part of a “corrupt nexus of private investigators, police officers and journalists at the News of the World”.

On Tuesday, former policewoman Jacqui Hames alleged that Marunchak commissioned surveillance of Met police detective Dave Cook in 2002 to “subvert” a new inquiry into the Morgan murder.

Press Gazette put the following questions to Alex Marunchak today:
  • Did Daniel Morgan go to you, or someone else at the News of the World, with a story about police corruption the week before he died?
  • Was he offered £40,000 for it?
  • Did you, or anyone else at the News of the World, do anything which could have tipped off the police or Daniel's then partner at Southern Investigations Jonathan Rees about what he was said to be alleging?
  • Was the News of the World's urveillance of detective chief superintendent Dave Cook in 2002 linked in any way to his involvement in the Daniel Morgan murder inquiry?
  • The general innuendo from what Watson said appears to be that the murder of Daniel Morgan was linked in some way to corrupt relationships involving the News of the World, the police and Morgan's former company Southern Investigations. What is your response to this?
Here is Marunchak's written response:

"Mercifully I didn’t see Tom Watson’s performance but regret it came slightly too late for him to be an also-ran at the Oscar ceremony.

It astonishes me an MP can abuse parliamentary privilege and waste everybody’s time by peddling untruths in this way.

I have never met Watson, nor talked or communicated with him in any way.

Perhaps I should make this clear at the outset – lest he be found crucified on a hill overlooking Jerusalem and I am held, in some way, to be responsible.

The Daniel Morgan murder:

Watson’s comments about my professional dealings with murder victim Daniel Morgan are absolutely untrue.

I do not doubt that Morgan’s family now believe he was on the verge of exposing police corruption before he died.

If that was indeed a motive for his death – then I know nothing about it.

The reason is that I never heard of Daniel Morgan or Southern Investigations until after his murder.

He never phoned me, contacted or met me, neither directly nor through a third party, by telephone or letter or by any other method.

Nor did he leave graffiti sprayed on walls for me to spot on the way to work which asked me to contact him.

But, I admit, for all I know, he may even have employed someone claiming to have ESP powers to contact me.

Sadly, for Mr Watson, I did not receive any ESP messages either.

Perhaps he should look into this as the basis for his next parliamentary diatribe on the topic?

I was told to cover the Morgan murder story as the News of the World’s crime reporter.

Then news editor Bob Warren told me: “Find out who this man is for a start. We’ve never heard of him.”

Neither I, nor anyone else at the News of the World, offered Morgan £40,000 for his story.
Nor did we offer £100,000.

In fact we never knew he even existed prior to his murder.


The Soham murders:

I was promoted to associate editor of the News of the World in 1997 after 10 years on the News of the World newsdesk.

My primary job was to edit the Irish News of the World in Dublin.

At about this time I was also offered the post of head of news at the Sunday Mirror by then Trinity Mirror director, Kelvin MacKenzie, an offer which I turned down.

I never worked on stories about the Soham murders [which happened in 2002], never wrote copy, nor interviewed anyone.

I did not pay any relatives of police officers involved in the Soham murders.
Instead, I carried on with the task of editing the Irish News of the World and commuted between Dublin and London.

Watson said in parliament he had been told a police informant claimed he overheard me boasting I had paid relatives of police officers in Cambridgeshire for information about the Soham murders. He also claimed I had written Soham stories. For the avoidance of any doubt - what Watson said is completely untrue.

In the unlikely event an experienced Fleet Street hack like myself, based in Dublin, were paying relatives of police officers in Cambridgeshire, would he be stupid enough to blurt it out in front of strangers, one of whom was a police informer? Er, no. I don’t think so.

The simple fact is that I was not involved in the Soham story. It was an English story run by the London newsdesk. I was in charge of the Irish News of the World and had no rolewhatsoever in the Soham story.

Jacqui Hames and NoW surveillance of Dave Cook in 2002:

I received information from a source that then minor BBC Crimewatch personality Jacqui Hames was having an affair with a senior officer who was appearing on her TV show.

For the avoidance of doubt, I did nothing to check this, because it was of no interest to me.
I did not look at cuttings, because I had no time, and I was editing the Irish News of the World. But I passed the tittle-tattle on to the London newsdesk as a bit of gossip, which had been passed on to me, and left it to them to deal with as they saw fit.

I do not know to this day what checks they carried out, if any at all, or indeed if they did anything about the information. Nor did I ask them to keep me posted with progress or developments. End of story.

But I do know that I did nothing more than have a 30 second conversation passing on the rumour to the London newsdesk and that was the end of my involvement.

Marunchak had a registered company based at the same address as Southern Investigations:

As part of my master-plan to escape Fleet Street and become a multi-millionaire I registered a limited company at Companies House in London through a chartered accountant. I believe he registered numerous companies at the same address which is the office from which he worked and rented. My name and home address was readily available from Companies House records.

The master plan was to import vodka into Britain and become so incredibly wealthy I could afford to stick two fingers up at Fleet Street. Sadly, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry, and the vodka company never traded. Not once. It did not take one single penny, nor import a single drop of vodka, let alone a whole bottle-full.

Instead, I was so busy carrying out my work for the paper I never had time to turn my attention to anything else. After a couple of years on the shelf and not trading I had the firm wound up after receiving threatening letters from Companies House for not filing accounts – of which there were none to file.

The allegation Southern Investigations paid Marunchak's debts:

I have a signed, witnessed, dated statement of truth from the then bursar of the school attended by my sons that no one except myself ever paid school fees. These were gratefully received because they were never paid on time or in full.

Eventually these were finally settle in total after I had left the employ of the News of the World and only after the threat of legal action against me and two years after my youngest son finished university. That’s five years after he left the school.

But should anyone be interested, then I am happy to give tips to anyone interested in knowing how I managed to achieve this incredible feat and avoid paying school fees for so long. Ditto for my credit cards.

My response to Watson’s childish and infantile accusations, which have no basis in fact whatsoever, have been repeated ad infinitum whenever he mischievously makes them.
But he persists in doing so, for whatever motives he has conjured up for himself. After all, he didn’t get to where he is on the Labour back benches by being stupid."

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=48878&c=1

Thursday, March 1, 2012

#Leveson Inquiry : Sinister - Leveson told NoW tried to subvert Morgan murder inquiry



Former Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames claimed yesterday that she was placed under surveillance by the News of the World in order to subvert an investigation into one of the UK's most notorious unsolved murders.

She rejected as "absolutely pathetic" ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks's claim that the paper was investigating whether she was having an affair with detective chief superintendent Dave Cook, who was actually her husband.

Hames, herself a former Scotland Yard detective, fought back tears as she told the Leveson Inquiry of the damaging effect that being followed by private investigators had on her and her marriage.

The News of the World placed the couple under surveillance after Mr Cook made an appeal on Crimewatch in June 2002 for information about the 1987 murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, the inquiry into press standards heard.

Hames alleged that Morgan's firm Southern Investigations, whose members included suspects in the killing, had "close links" to senior News of the World news editor Alex Marunchak.

She said in a statement to the inquiry: "I believe that the real reason for the News of the World placing 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 to intimidate us and so attempt to subvert the investigation.

"These events left me distressed, anxious and needing counselling, and contributed to the breakdown of my marriage to David in 2010.

"Given the impact of these events, I would like to know why the police did not investigate why we came to be placed under surveillance by a newspaper like this."

Dick Fedorcio, the Metropolitan Police's director of public affairs, asked Brooks to explain why Hames and Cook were placed under surveillance.

The then-News of the World editor said the paper was investigating suspicions they were having an affair, and repeated this explanation at a meeting in 2003.

Hames said in her statement: "This was utterly nonsensical as we had by then been married for four years, had been together for 11 years and had two children.

"Our marriage was common knowledge to the extent that we had even appeared together in Hello! magazine."

Referring to the efforts to find out information about her and her ex-husband, she added: "I think any reasonable person would find it difficult not to put them together and feel that in some way there was some collusion between people at the News of the World and the people who were suspected of committing the murder of Daniel Morgan."

In May 2011 Scotland Yard officers informed Ms Hames that her details had been found in the notebooks of Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator working for the News of the World who was jailed for phone hacking in 2007.


The information included her payroll and police warrant numbers, her home address and mobile phone number, and notes about Cook.

Hames said Mulcaire's notes were dated July 3 2002, about a week before the News of the World placed her and her husband under surveillance.

"This demonstrates to me that the News of the World knew full well that I was married to David at the time of the surveillance and thus gives the lie to their explanation for it," she said in her statement.

"This information could only have come from one place: my MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) file. I was horrified by the realisation that someone within the MPS had supplied information from my personnel file to Mr Mulcaire, and probably for money.

"Similarly distressing was the realisation that the MPS had known about these entries in Mr Mulcaire's notebooks since 2006 but had chosen neither to inform me nor to investigate it adequately."

She added that she was serving in a covert intelligence unit on a "highly-sensitive" inquiry about airport security at the time the information about her was leaked to Mulcaire.

She said: "I have always been loyal to the MPS, but I do feel very let down by this failure to inform or protect me from the unlawful actions of the press."

Morgan, 37, who was originally from Monmouthshire, was found with an axe in his head in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south London, on March 10 1987.

The case against three men accused of killing him collapsed last March.

Cook was arrested last month over alleged illegal leaks to a journalist as part of Scotland Yard's investigation into corruption of public officials, known as Operation Elveden. He was later bailed and has not been charged.

Prime Minister David Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiry last July in response to revelations that the News of the World hacked murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone after she disappeared in 2002.

The first part of the inquiry, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, is looking at the culture, practices and ethics of the press in general and is due to produce a report by September.

The second part, examining the extent of unlawful activities by journalists, will not begin until detectives have completed their investigation into alleged phone hacking and corrupt payments to police, and any prosecutions have been concluded.

The inquiry was adjourned until tomorrow, when it will hear evidence from three Scotland Yard officers involved in the original phone-hacking inquiry in 2006.

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=48856&c=1

#leveson Inquiry: After 25 Years And Five Inquiries Who Did Murder Daniel Morgan ?

A News of the World editor should be investigated by a public inquiry into the notorious unsolved murder of a private detective who had allegedly sold him a story about police corruption, the victim's family and campaigners said yesterday.
As the 25th anniversary of the death of Daniel Morgan looms next week, the failure of the Metropolitan Police to catch his killers was raised in Parliament by a senior Labour MP who highlighted claims that Alex Marunchak, a journalist at the NOTW from 1981 to 2006, knew that the private detective was about to expose bent Metropolitan Police officers before he died in 1987.

Mr Marunchak, who has denied knowing Mr Morgan, had close links to Mr Morgan's business partner, Jonathan Rees, and their south London investigation agency, Southern Investigations. Mr Rees, who was last year cleared of Mr Morgan's murder, built up a lucrative business selling stories to the NOTW and other tabloid papers, which it is claimed were based on illegal news gathering and a network of corrupt police officers.

A Home Office minister yesterday held out the possibility of fresh prosecutions in the case after a review by Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service of the collapse of last year's trial. The review was due to be published last month but policing minister Nick Herbert said it would now be released "very shortly", adding that the Government had not ruled out a public inquiry.

Mr Herbert also put forward the example of the Stephen Lawrence murder, in which two of his killers were brought to justice after forensic evidence was obtained using new techniques, as a possible avenue for a fresh investigation.

But such reassurances were of little comfort to Mr Morgan's family. Alastair Morgan, Daniel's brother, who has campaigned tirelessly to see the killers brought to justice and seen five Scotland Yard investigations fail to secure that goal, said yesterday that he and his family no longer had any confidence in the police and reiterated calls for a judge-led public inquiry into the murder.

He told The Independent: "This murder is only technically unsolved. The police have a very good idea who the killers were and five investigations have not resulted in a single conviction. It is my belief that they have no understanding of the cover-ups and corruption that mean my brother's murderers remain at large. The only way forward we can see now is a judicial inquiry."

At the core of any inquiry should be the web of connections between Mr Rees and newspapers, in particular the NOTW and Mr Marunchak, according to Mr Morgan.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP at the heart of the campaign on phone hacking, yesterday told a Parliamentary debate that police surveillance of Southern Investigations showed frequent contact between Mr Rees and the NOTW editor, who had both registered companies at the same address.

Daniel Morgan was murdered beside his car at the back of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London, on the evening of 10 March 1987 shortly after he had met Mr Rees for a drink. It was a particularly vicious killing – the attacker dealt a single blow to Mr Morgan with an axe, which he left embedded in his victim's skull.

Mr Watson said that shortly before the killing Mr Morgan had talked about selling a story to a newspaper and that his family believed this related to police corruption. Brian Madagan, Mr Morgan's former employer, made a statement to police saying the newspaper in question was the NOTW and Daniel's contact was Mr Marunchak, who it is alleged agreed to pay £40,000 for the story.

Mr Marunchak, who worked as his paper's crime editor before becoming a news executive, has previously denied knowing or speaking to Mr Morgan before his death. In a statement, his lawyers said: "Our client has never had any contact with Daniel Morgan and denies all allegations of wrongdoing."

The alleged closeness of the relationship between the journalist and Mr Rees, whose company was receiving £150,000 a year from the NOTW and who has also consistently denied any wrongdoing, was highlighted this week at the Leveson Inquiry when a witness said the NOTW had tried to subvert one of the investigations into the Morgan murder by carrying out surveillance on the detective leading police inquiries.

Jacqui Hames, whose husband, DCI David Cook, was heading the reinvestigation, described how two vans were used to follow the couple in July 2002. Subsequent inquiries found the vans had been leased to the NOTW through Mr Marunchak. Ms Hames said she believed the surveillance was being carried out on behalf of Mr Rees and his associates to subvert any investigation.

Mr Watson, who said recordings from police bugs placed inside Southern Investigations, which could hold important evidence, had yet to be transcribed, said: "Rees's confirmed links with Marunchak take the murder of Daniel Morgan to a new level."

Speaking during a private members' debate, the MP said that Scotland Yard was also "sitting on" claims that Mr Marunchak boasted of paying the relatives of police officers investigating the Soham murders in 2002 for information. He called for the Home Office to look at the secret reports.

Mr Watson said: "These are allegations that as far as we know have not been investigated. I don't know whether these intelligence reports are accurate but I do know that Alex Marunchak was involved in writing stories about how the Manchester United shirts of those young girls were found."


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/after-25-years-and-five-inquiries-who-did-murder-daniel-morgan-7466980.html

#Leveson Inquiry : MP Tom Watson - Transcript On Daniel Morgan Murder

#Leveson Inquiry: Daniel Morgan Murder Reveals Soham Corruption - NotW may have paid police relatives for Soham murder information


Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate Mr Watson said: "I believe the Metropolitan Police are sitting on an intelligence report from late 2002 that claims a police contact overheard Marunchak claim he was paying the relatives of police officers in Cambridgeshire for information about the Soham murders Photo: BRIAN SMITH

Labour MP Watson, who spearheaded the campaign to expose the phone hacking scandal at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid, claimed a journalist from the News of the World, Alex Marunchak, bought details about the investigation into the 2002 killings which shocked the country.

Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate Mr Watson said: "I believe the Metropolitan Police are sitting on an intelligence report from late 2002 that claims a police contact overheard Marunchak claim he was paying the relatives of police officers in Cambridgeshire for information about the Soham murders.
"These are allegations that as far as we know have not been investigated.
"I don't whether these intelligence reports are accurate, but I do know Alex Marunchak was involved in writing stories about how the Manchester United shirts of those young girls were found."
Mr Watson also claimed details on one of the girls' parents were found in files belonging to convicted phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire, who was previously jailed for illegally listening to voicemails.

The MP called on News International boss Rupert Murdoch to apologise for the conduct of staff at his paper during the investigations into the Soham killings and Mr Morgan's murder, as the media tycoon previously apologised to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's family.
The revelation Milly's phone was hacked by NoW journalists forced the paper's closure last summer.

Mr Watson said today: "I think Rupert Murdoch owes the Morgan family an apology.
"I also don't think he has made his last apology to the grieving parents of dead children."
It also emerged during the Westminster Hall debate that the Government could order a judicial inquiry into the unsolved axe murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan 25 years ago.

Mr Morgan was killed in a pub car park amid claims he was preparing to expose police corruption.

Investigations into the Welshman's death were hampered by allegations of further corruption, and his family said they have lost faith in detectives' abilities to bring his killers to justice.
Police Minister Nick Herbert said: "It is important to consider what options are now available to identify and address the issue of police corruption and to bring those responsible for Daniel's murder to justice.

"The Morgan family have called for a judicial inquiry and this call has been endorsed by the Metropolitan Police Authority."

He added: "We are considering very carefully if this is the right way forward.
"The Home Secretary and I haven't ruled out ordering a judicial inquiry at this stage."

His announcement came during a debate ahead of the 25th anniversary of Mr Morgan's death in Sydenham, south London, on March 10 1987.

Mr Herbert said it was "a horrific murder, exacerbated by the failure to see those responsible held to account".

Mr Watson claimed Mr Marunchak had paid Mr Morgan's business partner Jonathan Rees for stories.

Mr Rees was later accused and cleared over Mr Morgan's death.

The West Bromwich East MP referred to evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards on Tuesday that Mr Marunchak placed the officer leading an investigation into Mr Morgan's killing, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Cook, under surveillance.

"The person who was investigating a murder was put under close surveillance by a close business associate of the man he was investigating," said Mr Watson.

"A journalist tried to undermine a murder investigation."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9114464/NotW-may-have-paid-police-relatives-for-Soham-murder-information.html

#Leveson Inquiry:Met to review Daniel Morgan murder over claims of News of the World link

Ministers consider judicial inquiry after Leveson is told that suspects urged NoW to put detective under surveillance
Jonathan Rees, whose detective agency worked for the News of the World and who was cleared of Daniel Morgan's murder last year. Photograph: Rex Features
 
Scotland Yard is carrying out a full forensic review of the Daniel Morgan murder 25 years ago amid allegations that the News of the World under Rebekah Brooks attempted to subvert the inquiry into the killing.

The revelation came as Nick Herbert, the police minister, told MPs a judicial inquiry into the murder was under consideration. The death of Morgan, a private detective who was killed with an axe to the head, has for two decades been mired in allegations of police corruption involving a detective agency using officers to provide information to sell to tabloid newspapers.

Speaking at an adjournment debate brought by the Labour MP Tom Watson, Herbert said it was a serious issue, and that the corruption and the lack of justice for the family needed to be addressed. He said the home secretary was considering a judicial inquiry but another option of an outside force being brought in with the oversight of a QC was also being considered by himself and the home secretary.

"This is a matter of utmost seriousness … It's important to consider what options are now available to identify and address issues of police corruption and bring those responsible to justice," said Herbert.

He revealed that the Morgan murder – one of the Met police's most notorious unsolved killings – was now being overseen by the assistant commissioner Cressida Dick, who would bring "fresh eyes" to a controversy which has run through the stewardship of five Met police commissioners. He said the Met under Bernard Hogan-Howe was carrying out a full forensic review of the case – similar to the one undertaken in the Stephen Lawrence murder which led to the successful conviction of two men earlier this year.

Watson urged the minister and the home secretary to give Morgan's family the judicial inquiry into the murder which they have requested, and which the Metropolitan Police Authority and the former acting commissioner Tim Godwin have endorsed.

Watson said Morgan's family had always believed he was killed as he was about to expose a network of police corruption involving his business partner Jonathan Rees, his friend the Met police detective Sid Fillery and a network of corrupt police officers.

Rees's private detective agency worked for the News of the World and other newspapers. One of Rees's close associates was Alex Marunchak, who was the News of the World's crime correspondent. The men were so close they shared a business address for their companies. Watson also told MPs that Southern Investigations settled Marunchak's debts.

Surveillance footage filmed by the police in operations over the years to investigate the murder showed Marunchak and Rees were in frequent contact with Rees at his agency.

"Jonathan Rees and Sid Fillery were at the corrupt nexus of private investigators, police officers and journalists at the News of the World," said Watson. "Southern Investigations was the hub of police and media contacts involving the illegal theft and disclosure of information obtained thorugh Rees and Fillery's corrupt contacts."

Rees has always been a suspect for the murder. But the first investigation was corrupted – the Met police has since admitted – by the presence of Fillery on the investigating team. Fillery interviewed Rees, but never disclosed to the investigation that the pair were close friends and business associates, MPs heard.

After Morgan's death Fillery became Rees's partner in Southern Investigations. Watson told MPs Morgan had been about to take his story about police corruption to the News of the World and its crime reporter Marunchak at the time he was killed and had been promised £40,000 for the story.

The Leveson inquiry heard this week that the News of the World under Brooks put the senior officer who led the fourth and fifth investigations into the Morgan murder under surveillance. Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook and his then wife Jacqui Hames believed that the suspects in the Morgan murder had encouraged the tabloid to watch them. Hames told the inquiry she believed the News of the World had put them under surveillance because "suspects in the Daniel Morgan murder inquiry were using their association with a powerful and well-resourced newspaper to intimidate us and try to attempt to subvert the investigation".

The fifth inquiry into the murder collapsed last year and Rees and two other men were acquitted after the judge ruled senior police had coached one of the main supergrasses in the case, and it was revealed that large amounts of evidence had not been disclosed as a result of the vast material gathered over so many years.

But Watson said: "What the family didn't know during the investigation was the extent to which the relationship between News International, private investigators and the police had such an impact … Southern Investigations sold information to newspapers in the 90s … but I think exclusively to News International after Rees was released from jail in 2005 [on another offence]. The main conduit was Alex Marunchak.

"Rees and Marunchak had a relationship that was so close they both registered their companies at the same address. Rees's confirmed links to Marunchak take the murder of Daniel Morgan to a new level."

Morgan's brother Alastair, who was at the debate on Wednesday, said afterwards: "The seeds of the hacking scandal that is unravelling at the Leveson inquiry were planted a quarter of a century ago in a car park in south-east London where my brother was murdered." He said he still wanted to know the extent to which journalists interfered with the five murder investigations and the political response to allegations of police involvement in the murder.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/29/met-review-daniel-morgan-murder?CMP=twt_gu