CPS drop Charges against Daniel Morgan Murder Detective

Brief comment on the news the CPS will not be prosecuting former DCS Dave Cook after an IPCC investigation into Misconduct in Public Office

One of the most shocking aspects of the phone hacking scandal was the way that News International, through its Management and Standards Committee, shopped over a hundred confidential sources and journalists to the Met Police in an attempt to avoid corporate charges in the US under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

While very few journalists have been convicted under the Misconduct in Public Office law, at least 27 public officials have received sentences for receiving money for stories.

Much  more shocking even than this is the way News International used selective disclosure to pursue vendettas and silence possible witnesses. In the former category I would suggest the outing of Vicky Pryce’s allegations against her ex husband Chris Huhne would count as revenge for his position on phone hacking.

But most disturbing of all was their handing over of correspondence between former Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook and the Sun’s crime correspondent Mike Sullivan towards the end of 2011.

Read More and Support my work on Byline: CPS drop Charges against Daniel Morgan Murder Detective

Miskiw Confirms: News of the World subverted Murder Inquiry on behalf of Murder Suspects

09 Nov. 2015

Greg Miskiw’s confirmation that another NOTW executive was subverting a high profile murder inquiry on behalf of the prime suspects demands a full investigation by the Metropolitan Police

Finally, the lie has been exposed.

Back in June 2002, when the fourth investigation into the Daniel Morgan murder was announced, the News of the World began following, photographing, hacking, and obtaining personal information on the chief investigating officer, Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook, and his wife Jacqui Hames.

Not only was this a deadly serious attempt to subvert one of the most sensitive murder inquiries in the history of the Met, the surveillance placed on the couple and their young family at their private home was particularly traumatic for Hames. She had been a close friend and colleague of the BBC presenter Jill Dando, who was shot dead three years before on the doorstep of her London home.

The subversion of the Morgan murder inquiry began two days before Cook’s appearance on BBC’s Crimewatch when Sid Fillery, a former police officer and a suspect in the conspiracy, phoned Alex Marunchak, an executive editor of News of the World, with information about the new murder inquiry team.

Though he admits he took the call, Marunchak has always denied he was interfering with the murder investigation, and claimed he was only passing on a tip about the Hames having an ‘affair’ with a senior officer about to appear on the show – a line that Rebekah Brooks repeated before the Leveson Inquiry.

Now Greg Miskiw, a former colleague of Marunchak’s, and the news desk editor who tasked Mulcaire and the surveillance, explicitly contradicts their version of the events.

Read More and Support my work at Byline: Miskiw Confirms: News of the World subverted Murder Inquiry on behalf of Murder Suspects

The Restoration of Rebekah: How Rupert Murdoch Hacked the UK

This is a version of the speech I’m giving this afternoon to an assembly of investigative journalists from Central Europe and Russia. My work looks paltry in comparison to the crusading work of most my fellow attendees. Among them is Andrey Lipsky, deputy Editor in Chief of Novaya Gazeta, one of the last publications in Russia still critical of Vladimir Putin, whose famous reporter Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in 2006. I’m also honoured to share a platform with Dmytro Gnap who covered the Maidan revolution in Kiev against all the odds – including baton charges and sniper bullets – for Slidtvo.info and Hromadske TV. Compared to either of these journalists I’m a celebrity hack

BAD PRESS

I come with some bad news. I come with some bad news about the state of the news in Britain today. It is now four years since Nick Davies broke the phone hacking scandal in the Guardian, and Rupert Murdoch closed one of the oldest newspapers in the world, the News of the World.From that came a political crisis: the resignations of the country’s most senior police officers, News Corp’s withdrawal of a billion dollar bid for BSkyB, a public inquiry – the Leveson Inquiry into the culture and ethics of the press –  and a dozen or so criminal trials. And what has been the result? I come mainly with bad news and a little ray of hope.Britain is supposedly the birthplace of the free press. From the coffee shops and bookshops around the legal centre of London – the Inns of Court – arose the newspaper industry of Fleet Street. For 150 years our national newspapers claimed to be at the forefront of our democracy.The fourth estate boldly declares its role is to expose corruption in politics and make power accountable. But the truth is – in the information age – media is a power in its own right. And rather than hold politicians to account, more often our newspapers held them hostage.

Read more and support my continued coverage at Byline: The Restoration of Rebekah: How Rupert Murdoch Hacked the UK

The murder of Daniel Morgan with Peter Jukes | Jason McCrossan

Daniel Morgan was a private investigator who was murdered in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham in March 1987. He was said to have been close to exposing important police corruption. His death was the subject of several failed police inquiries and in 2011 was at the centre of allegations concerning the suspect conduct of News of the World journalists. Was he second alleged victim of the infamous gangster Kenneth Noye?  And what part did his former business partner Jonathan Rees and the last to speak to him have in his murder?  Sid Fillery, who led the initial murder investigation, retired from the Metropolitan Police on medical grounds and took over Daniel Morgan’s position as Jonathan Rees’s partner at Southern Investigations.

In 1998 Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Roy Clark conducted a third, secret, inquiry into the murder during which Southern Investigations’s office was bugged.  In December 2000, Jonathan Rees was found guilty of conspiring to plant cocaine on an innocent woman in order to discredit her in a child custody battle and sentenced to seven years imprisonment for attempting to pervert the course of justice.Peter Jukes – writer and adviser to Byline – world’s most visited crowdfunded journalism siteJason McCrossan spoke to author and journalist Peter Jukes who outlined the history of the case and developments that he himself has discovered that shine a light on links between journalists and met police which strike at the heart of the British justice system.For more information visit Peter Jukes page: 

Source: The murder of Daniel Morgan with Peter Jukes | Jason McCrossan

Crowdfunding: The Criminal Media Nexus, Mirror Phone Hacking and a Piers Morgan Biography – Peter Jukes

Inforrm's Blog

It will be four years to the day tomorrow that the Guardian published the front page expose of the Hacking of Milly Dowler by Nick Davies and Amelia Hill which led to the setting up of the Leveson inquiry and kicked off this seemingly endless saga of the investigation of press intrusion.

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DIAL M FOR MORGAN

More from Paddy French, who shows that phone hacking was the tip of a very dark iceberg: underneath it all – the Daniel Morgan Murder.

PRESS GANG

STOP PRESS
A CROWDFUNDING project to extend this series into the unauthorised biography of Piers Morgan has just been launched. More details on the Byline.com website — click here for more details.

FOR THE last four years Piers Morgan has been desperately trying to distance himself from the phone hacking scandal.

Twice he’s been interviewed under caution by detectives investigating phone hacking at the Daily Mirror when he was editor from 1995 to 2004.

Between 2001 and 2009 he made a series of incriminating statements widely interpreted as evidence he knew all about the practice.

Two of his protégés — Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks — have appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey.

Coulson went to gaol: Brooks was acquitted.

Morgan now insists he knew nothing:

“For the record … I have never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, or published any stories based on the…

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Mazher Mahmood, Murdoch, and the NCA – The Regular Contributor

Inforrm's Blog

‘Why don’t the police chase proper criminals instead?’‘They should be out catching paedos and looking at dodgy blue chip firms not journalists just doing their job’ Paraphrasing an often heard criticism, the view is that police priorities are all skewed. And they’ve got a good point.

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New media covering old: crowd-funding the trial of Neil Wallis – Martin Hickman

Probably the most important trial, along side that of Andy Coulson, which begins on Wednesday June 3. Support Independent veteran Martin Hickman on Byline to cover this key trial about News of the World.

Inforrm's Blog

One of the most interesting court cases for followers of the phone hacking scandal is about to begin. Neil Wallis, one of the biggest figures in tabloid journalism, goes on trial at the Old Bailey next week (3 June 2015) accused of conspiring to intercept the phone messages of newsworthy individuals.

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Crowd Funding: Reporting the Coulson Perjury Trial – James Doleman

Half way there in just a day: do chip in to send James Doleman to court tomorrow. He deserves it.

Inforrm's Blog

A year before the News of the World phone-hacking scandal exploded in 2011 with the news that the paper’s employees had intercepted the messages of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, the paper’s former editor Andy Coulson was called as a witness at Glasgow High Court at the trial of Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan.

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#Milfandom or how the press found out if a 17 year old scares easily

Philosophical Politics

“The News of the World” scandal explodes at UK press. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the UK General Election campaign of 2015, a 17 year old learned about the UK media’s unpleasant behavior as guardian of the public domain. The 17 year old helped to start the Twitter trend called #Milfandom, to counter the negative stories about Ed Miliband. She did what many fans do for their favorite celebrities and sports stars, except this time it was for a politician. As this challenged the tabloid’s stories directly, they become interested. They quickly identified her and sought an interview. [1] Even though some people were surprised at how quickly the press identified her, it is not surprising.[2] The media are trained in tools and techniques to find people on social media.[3]

What price do we pay to be a citizen?

What this episode teaches us is that there is a…

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