Showing posts with label metropolitan police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label metropolitan police. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Monday, January 18, 2016
Police Infiltrate Socialist Party.
Press statement from the Socialist Party
The news revealed on the Guardian website and theBBC website today that ‘Carlo Neri’, as we knew him, infiltrated the Socialist Party from 2001 to 2006 on behalf of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) is unfortunately not surprising.
It is very far from being the first such revelation. In 2013 Peter Francis revealed that he had also infiltrated Militant Labour (now the Socialist Party) on behalf of the SDS. Francis also admitted infiltrating Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE), a democratic campaigning organisation of young people, in which we participated.
Further evidence of repeated attempts to spy on socialists was revealed in the 2002 BBC documentary ‘True Spies’ which showed that the West Midlands policewere involved in spying on Socialist Party member Dave Nellist, at the time a Labour MP.
Lois Austin, Socialist Party member, previous chair of YRE and core participant in the Pitchford Inquiry stated:
“This is the latest in a litany of scandals showing that the police have used their resources to infiltrate democratic left-wing organisations. One of the key campaigns of YRE was for justice for Stephen Lawrence. It took 18 years for the police to convict any of his murderers, but we now find they were spending resources spying on anti-racist campaigners, including disgustingly trying to find ‘dirt’ on the bereaved Lawrence family.
“In the process they have caused untold distress to families whose dead children’s names were used by undercover officers, and to women who formed relationships with men who, unknown to them, were actually undercover police officers.
“There was no purpose to infiltrating YRE or Militant Labour. Far from being secretive we publicly advertised our events – the police could have read our leaflets and newspapers, or attended our public meetings, to find out what was going on.”
Dave Nellist added:
“As the revelations of police spying have mounted, the government has been forced to respond by setting up the Pitchford Inquiry to investigate police spying. This is welcome, but not enough.
“Lord Pitchford’s inquiry will need to get behind the attempts that will be made to disguise the reality of what has taken place. Undercover officers spying on a democratically-elected MP because he holds left-wing views cannot be justified. We demand the ‘undercover’ names of every police spy – that is the only way we can find out the full extent of what took place.
“We also demand that the Inquiry’s remit is extended to cover Scotland.
“But alongside Pitchford the labour and trade union movement should organise its own independent inquiry, made up of representatives from the trade union movement and the anti-racist and environmental protest groups that have suffered infiltration. Such an enquiry could go beyond investigating the role of the police, and also look at where the orders came from and the role of the government itself.
“We do not accept that infiltration, as the Metropolitan Police have implied, is a thing of the past. Surveillance of peaceful protesters has increased dramatically in the recent period. We demand to know what today’s ‘Carlo Neris’ are doing.
“Today a new generation are becoming involved in campaigns against austerity, racism and war. No amount of police infiltration will cut across this. But questions about whose interests the police act in, alongside demands for them to be made democratically accountable, will be an important aspect of current and future campaigns.”
Socialist Party
The Socialist Party is a campaigning, democratic organisation. Our members played a leading role on Liverpool Labour council in the 1980s when it defied Thatcher and refused to implement cuts, winning £60 million to spend on jobs and services in the city.
Socialist Party members were among the leaders of the struggle in the late 1980s and early 90s when 18 million people nationwide refused to pay the hated Poll Tax.
We fight against all attacks on the rights and living standards of working class people and stand for a socialist alternative.
- For reports, and video clips about the Socialist Party: www.socialistparty.org.uk
For interviews with Dave, Lois, leading activists and any other information requests, please contact:
- Sarah Sachs-Eldridge | National Organiser | Socialist Party PO Box 24697, London E11 1YD | T: 020 8988 8771 | M: 079 580 320 71 | E: sarahse@socialistparty.org.uk
Twitter: @socialist_party
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
News Of The World And Murder.
Call for public inquiry in murder case with NoW links
5 August 2011
By Dominic Ponsford
Lawyers acting for the family of a murdered private detective have called for a new public inquiry which could shed more light on corrupt relationships between police and journalists.
Daniel Morgan was murdered with an axe in 1987 but despite five police investigations no-one has ever been convicted of his murder.
In March last year Morgan's former business partner Jonathan Rees was one of three men acquitted of Morgan's murder when the trial collapsed after 20-months of pre-trial hearings.
BBC Panorama revealed in March this year that Rees and his company, Southern Investigations, was widely used by journalists to find out secret information. Rees was used by the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror to probe the bank accounts of Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Prince Michael of Kent in 1999.
Rees was also used by the News of the World and rehired by the paper after his release from prison in 2005 following his conviction for a serious criminal offence.
During the emergency Commons debate on phone-hacking on 7 July, MP Tom Watson alleged that the News of the World had interfered with a murder investigation in 2002.
Press Gazette understands that the murder investigation in question was into the death of Daniel Morgan.
Watson said: "Rebekah Brooks was present at a meeting with Scotland Yard when police officers pursuing a murder investigation provided her with evidence that her newspaper was interfering with the pursuit of justice.
"They gave her the name of another senior executive at News International, Alex Marunchak. At the meeting, which included Dick Fedorcio of the Metropolitan police, she was told that News of the World staff were guilty of interference and party to using unlawful means to attempt to discredit a police officer and his wife.
"Rebekah Brooks was told of actions by people whom she paid to expose and discredit David Cook and his wife Jackie Haines, so that Mr Cook would be prevented from completing an investigation into a murder. News International was paying people to interfere with police officers and was doing so on behalf of known criminals. We know now that News International had entered the criminal underworld.
"Rebekah Brooks cannot deny being present at that meeting when the actions of people whom she paid were exposed. She cannot deny now being warned that under her auspices unlawful tactics were used for the purpose of interfering with the pursuit of justice. She cannot deny that one of her staff, Alex Marunchak, was named and involved.
"She cannot deny either that she was told by the police that her own paper was using unlawful tactics, in that case to help one of her lawbreaking investigators. This, in my view, shows that her culpability goes beyond taking the blame as head of the organisation; it is about direct knowledge of unlawful behaviour. Was Mr Marunchak dismissed? No. He was promoted."
This meeting was also brought up during Commons media select committee questions to Rebekah Brooks and former Met Police assistant commissioner John Yates last month. Brooks said that it was extraordinary that Rees was re-hired by the News of the World in 2005 after a serious criminal conviction.
Daniel Morgan's brother Alastair said: "For almost a quarter of a century, my family has done everything possible to secure justice for Daniel and to expose police corruption. For much of this time, we have encountered stubborn obstruction and worse at the highest levels of the Metropolitan Police.
"We have found an impotent police complaints system and met with inertia or worse on the part of successive governments. We have been failed utterly by all of the institutions designed to protect us. We have seen for ourselves a criminal justice system which has proved incapable of coming to terms with the murder or the subsequent criminality of those charged with enforcing the law.
"In the midst of what is a tragic mess for my family, we recognise that those responsible for the most recent prosecution, police officers and lawyers alike, have done their utmost to redress the catastrophic failures of earlier investigations. Nevertheless, despite their best efforts, the fact remains that there has been no public scrutiny of the evidence available in relation to Daniel’s murder.
"We find real significance in recent and continuing revelations around the News of the World affair in relation to the close relationships between NoW journalists, corrupt police officers and some of those charged with Daniel’s murder.
"In that light, we call upon the Home Secretary now to order a full judicial inquiry into this sorry state of affairs. We consider that the material placed before her cries out for proper public scrutiny of the murder and its handling by the police and the prosecuting authorities over the years. We know she will need courage to ensure that there is such scrutiny - courage which we have found to be signally lacking in her predecessors.”
Lawyers acting for the Morgan family have sent the Home Secretary a detailed submission setting out the grounds for a judicial inquiry into the case.
On 31 March, 2011, acting Met Commissioner Tim Godwin apologised to the Morgan family and acknowledged publicly that there had been a “repeated failure by the MPS over many years following Daniel’s murder to accept that corruption had played such a significant part in failing to bring those responsible to justice”.
He said: “We recognise that we have to take responsibility for the consequences of the repeated failure of the MPS over the years to confront the role played by police corruption in protecting those responsible for the murder from being brought to justice.”
5 August 2011
By Dominic Ponsford
Lawyers acting for the family of a murdered private detective have called for a new public inquiry which could shed more light on corrupt relationships between police and journalists.
Daniel Morgan was murdered with an axe in 1987 but despite five police investigations no-one has ever been convicted of his murder.
In March last year Morgan's former business partner Jonathan Rees was one of three men acquitted of Morgan's murder when the trial collapsed after 20-months of pre-trial hearings.
BBC Panorama revealed in March this year that Rees and his company, Southern Investigations, was widely used by journalists to find out secret information. Rees was used by the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror to probe the bank accounts of Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Prince Michael of Kent in 1999.
Rees was also used by the News of the World and rehired by the paper after his release from prison in 2005 following his conviction for a serious criminal offence.
During the emergency Commons debate on phone-hacking on 7 July, MP Tom Watson alleged that the News of the World had interfered with a murder investigation in 2002.
Press Gazette understands that the murder investigation in question was into the death of Daniel Morgan.
Watson said: "Rebekah Brooks was present at a meeting with Scotland Yard when police officers pursuing a murder investigation provided her with evidence that her newspaper was interfering with the pursuit of justice.
"They gave her the name of another senior executive at News International, Alex Marunchak. At the meeting, which included Dick Fedorcio of the Metropolitan police, she was told that News of the World staff were guilty of interference and party to using unlawful means to attempt to discredit a police officer and his wife.
"Rebekah Brooks was told of actions by people whom she paid to expose and discredit David Cook and his wife Jackie Haines, so that Mr Cook would be prevented from completing an investigation into a murder. News International was paying people to interfere with police officers and was doing so on behalf of known criminals. We know now that News International had entered the criminal underworld.
"Rebekah Brooks cannot deny being present at that meeting when the actions of people whom she paid were exposed. She cannot deny now being warned that under her auspices unlawful tactics were used for the purpose of interfering with the pursuit of justice. She cannot deny that one of her staff, Alex Marunchak, was named and involved.
"She cannot deny either that she was told by the police that her own paper was using unlawful tactics, in that case to help one of her lawbreaking investigators. This, in my view, shows that her culpability goes beyond taking the blame as head of the organisation; it is about direct knowledge of unlawful behaviour. Was Mr Marunchak dismissed? No. He was promoted."
This meeting was also brought up during Commons media select committee questions to Rebekah Brooks and former Met Police assistant commissioner John Yates last month. Brooks said that it was extraordinary that Rees was re-hired by the News of the World in 2005 after a serious criminal conviction.
Daniel Morgan's brother Alastair said: "For almost a quarter of a century, my family has done everything possible to secure justice for Daniel and to expose police corruption. For much of this time, we have encountered stubborn obstruction and worse at the highest levels of the Metropolitan Police.
"We have found an impotent police complaints system and met with inertia or worse on the part of successive governments. We have been failed utterly by all of the institutions designed to protect us. We have seen for ourselves a criminal justice system which has proved incapable of coming to terms with the murder or the subsequent criminality of those charged with enforcing the law.
"In the midst of what is a tragic mess for my family, we recognise that those responsible for the most recent prosecution, police officers and lawyers alike, have done their utmost to redress the catastrophic failures of earlier investigations. Nevertheless, despite their best efforts, the fact remains that there has been no public scrutiny of the evidence available in relation to Daniel’s murder.
"We find real significance in recent and continuing revelations around the News of the World affair in relation to the close relationships between NoW journalists, corrupt police officers and some of those charged with Daniel’s murder.
"In that light, we call upon the Home Secretary now to order a full judicial inquiry into this sorry state of affairs. We consider that the material placed before her cries out for proper public scrutiny of the murder and its handling by the police and the prosecuting authorities over the years. We know she will need courage to ensure that there is such scrutiny - courage which we have found to be signally lacking in her predecessors.”
Lawyers acting for the Morgan family have sent the Home Secretary a detailed submission setting out the grounds for a judicial inquiry into the case.
On 31 March, 2011, acting Met Commissioner Tim Godwin apologised to the Morgan family and acknowledged publicly that there had been a “repeated failure by the MPS over many years following Daniel’s murder to accept that corruption had played such a significant part in failing to bring those responsible to justice”.
He said: “We recognise that we have to take responsibility for the consequences of the repeated failure of the MPS over the years to confront the role played by police corruption in protecting those responsible for the murder from being brought to justice.”
Monday, September 26, 2011
How much are lawyers profiting from the public purse?
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Met Police rejects FOI request about payments to Carter Ruck
September 26th, 2011 | by Jamie Thunder | Published in All Stories, Open Society
How much are lawyers profiting from the public purse? We aren’t allowed to know.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has rejected a Freedom of Information request asking for details of payments to legal firm Carter Ruck for work for the former Assistant Commissioner, John Yates, who resigned earlier this year after the service was criticised over its investigation into phone hacking.
In July, author Richard Wilson asked for details of all payments made by the MPS to Carter Ruck, a well-known company that specialises in libel actions, since 2005. He asked for details of the services any payments were for, and how much each payment was.
He also requested confirmation of whether the MPS had covered the costs of Carter Ruck’s work for John Yates. Complaints on Yates’ behalf had been made to news organisations over their reporting of his role in the phone-hacking investigation.
An excuse
The Freedom of Information Act requires public bodies to respond to requests within 20 working days. But on the day this deadline passed, the MPS said it would need another two weeks to give an answer because it had moved offices.
When it eventually replied, it confirmed it had paid Carter Ruck for Yates. But details of other work and costs incurred were not released, as this was deemed to be ‘personal information’.
Personal information is exempt under s.40 of the Freedom of Information Act. Yet it is difficult to see how amounts paid for pieces of work could constitute personal information; the request was for details of payments to a company, not an individual. If the exemption was used because it was for work done on behalf of an individual – John Yates – it is even harder to see how it is appropriate as Yates didn’t pay the costs himself.
Although the Freedom of Information Act wasn’t able to uncover how much was paid to Carter-Ruck to handle Yates’ complaints, the Independent reports today that the firm received over £7,000 for the case. Why such ‘personal information’ was able to be publicly revealed to the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee but not to a member of the public is unclear.
The payment of Yates’ costs also raises questions. The MPS’ response said payments for legal advice were only made ‘for cases which have the potential to bring the organisation as a whole into disrepute’. But if the complaints brought the MPS into disrepute, why were they sent on Yates’ behalf rather than the MPS’?
Internal review
Not satisfied with the response, Richard Wilson asked for an internal review. There’s no time limit for a review set out in the Freedom of Information Act, but the Information Commissioner’s Office says that public bodies should try to complete reviews in 20 working days.
Two weeks after asking for a review, he received an acknowledgement. Last Friday, another two weeks after that, the MPS told him there had been a delay and that the review would be completed by October 20. It gave no reason for this, and a complaint is being made to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
It’s now been over two months since the original request was made, and will be another month before the outcome of the internal review is known. There have been repeated delays, sometimes without any explanation, and a seemingly strange interpretation of ‘personal information’ used to justify withholding information.
The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to open up public bodies. But as this case shows, access to information can still be denied and delayed.
The original request and correspondence is on WhatDoTheyKnow here.
Met Police rejects FOI request about payments to Carter Ruck
September 26th, 2011 | by Jamie Thunder | Published in All Stories, Open Society
How much are lawyers profiting from the public purse? We aren’t allowed to know.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has rejected a Freedom of Information request asking for details of payments to legal firm Carter Ruck for work for the former Assistant Commissioner, John Yates, who resigned earlier this year after the service was criticised over its investigation into phone hacking.
In July, author Richard Wilson asked for details of all payments made by the MPS to Carter Ruck, a well-known company that specialises in libel actions, since 2005. He asked for details of the services any payments were for, and how much each payment was.
He also requested confirmation of whether the MPS had covered the costs of Carter Ruck’s work for John Yates. Complaints on Yates’ behalf had been made to news organisations over their reporting of his role in the phone-hacking investigation.
An excuse
The Freedom of Information Act requires public bodies to respond to requests within 20 working days. But on the day this deadline passed, the MPS said it would need another two weeks to give an answer because it had moved offices.
When it eventually replied, it confirmed it had paid Carter Ruck for Yates. But details of other work and costs incurred were not released, as this was deemed to be ‘personal information’.
Personal information is exempt under s.40 of the Freedom of Information Act. Yet it is difficult to see how amounts paid for pieces of work could constitute personal information; the request was for details of payments to a company, not an individual. If the exemption was used because it was for work done on behalf of an individual – John Yates – it is even harder to see how it is appropriate as Yates didn’t pay the costs himself.
Although the Freedom of Information Act wasn’t able to uncover how much was paid to Carter-Ruck to handle Yates’ complaints, the Independent reports today that the firm received over £7,000 for the case. Why such ‘personal information’ was able to be publicly revealed to the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee but not to a member of the public is unclear.
The payment of Yates’ costs also raises questions. The MPS’ response said payments for legal advice were only made ‘for cases which have the potential to bring the organisation as a whole into disrepute’. But if the complaints brought the MPS into disrepute, why were they sent on Yates’ behalf rather than the MPS’?
Internal review
Not satisfied with the response, Richard Wilson asked for an internal review. There’s no time limit for a review set out in the Freedom of Information Act, but the Information Commissioner’s Office says that public bodies should try to complete reviews in 20 working days.
Two weeks after asking for a review, he received an acknowledgement. Last Friday, another two weeks after that, the MPS told him there had been a delay and that the review would be completed by October 20. It gave no reason for this, and a complaint is being made to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
It’s now been over two months since the original request was made, and will be another month before the outcome of the internal review is known. There have been repeated delays, sometimes without any explanation, and a seemingly strange interpretation of ‘personal information’ used to justify withholding information.
The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to open up public bodies. But as this case shows, access to information can still be denied and delayed.
The original request and correspondence is on WhatDoTheyKnow here.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
One Resignation. Another Death.
Metropolitan Police Deputy, John Yates, resigned last night.
His position had become untenable, yet he still stared like a man who thinks "fuck you, all".
His integrity intact ?
Hardly.
"No evidence", Yates whined.
There was plenty of evidence, but like many senior officers before him, he looked the other way.
The fact he was having an affair, coupled with the knowledge his own phone was hacked and people may know of his extra marital activities, was enough to blind John Yates.
Sean Hoare, a former News of the World reporter, was found dead at his home, yesterday.
A spokeman for Hertford Police said the death "although unexplained, was not suspicious".
It was Hoare, who first blew the whistle on the phone hacking activities of Andy Coulson, the Prime Minister's communications chief.
RIP Sean Hoare.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Police Corruption And Phone Hacking.
The sordid tale of phone hacking by Murdoch, News of the World and News International is only the tip of a very large iceberg.
Prime Ministers, High Court Judges and top ranking Policeman have all been victims of phone hacking, since the 1980's.
Huge dossiers have been compiled on the most influential people in our society, but for why ?
Information is Power !
But, what information will have been gathered on these powerful people ?
What would the information have been used for ?
And who are the information gatherers ?
Rupert Murdoch bought the News of the World in 1969.
He bought up other newspapers and businesses and his UK empire grew quickly.
As did his influence in British politics.
In the late 70's and early 80's, Murdoch engaged serving Metropolitan policemen to do his spying and dirty work for him.
The moonlighting policemen even set up a company called Southern Investigations.
The directors of the private investigation firm were Johnathon Rees and Daniel Morgan.
In 1987, Daniel Morgan began investigating rumours that Metropolitan Police officers were engaged in drug running and paedophilia.
Morgan believed that the criminality was at the very top of the Metropolitan Police force.
Morgan was found with an axe in his head outside the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham.
Johnathon Rees was suspected of the murder, along with other serving Met officers.
The murder was investigated by a DS Sidney Fillery, amongst others.
The case failed due to either incompetence or corruption by the Met Police.
DS Fillery, later joined Southern Investigations as a business partner !
Johnathon Rees, with Sidney Fillery, continued their spying business.
And cashing Murdoch's cheques for 'dirty deeds done not dirt cheap'.
Rees even crowed that "no-one pays like the News of the World".
Andy Coulson enjoyed the fruits of Rees work when he became editor of the News of the World.
Rees was finally jailed for fraud and planting false evidence at a crime scene.
Ex-Met, Sidney Fillery was busted for child pornography but escaped jail and put on a 3 year probation.
Prime Ministers, High Court Judges and top ranking Policeman have all been victims of phone hacking, since the 1980's.
Huge dossiers have been compiled on the most influential people in our society, but for why ?
Information is Power !
But, what information will have been gathered on these powerful people ?
What would the information have been used for ?
And who are the information gatherers ?
Rupert Murdoch bought the News of the World in 1969.
He bought up other newspapers and businesses and his UK empire grew quickly.
As did his influence in British politics.
In the late 70's and early 80's, Murdoch engaged serving Metropolitan policemen to do his spying and dirty work for him.
The moonlighting policemen even set up a company called Southern Investigations.
The directors of the private investigation firm were Johnathon Rees and Daniel Morgan.
In 1987, Daniel Morgan began investigating rumours that Metropolitan Police officers were engaged in drug running and paedophilia.
Morgan believed that the criminality was at the very top of the Metropolitan Police force.
Morgan was found with an axe in his head outside the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham.
Johnathon Rees was suspected of the murder, along with other serving Met officers.
The murder was investigated by a DS Sidney Fillery, amongst others.
The case failed due to either incompetence or corruption by the Met Police.
DS Fillery, later joined Southern Investigations as a business partner !
Johnathon Rees, with Sidney Fillery, continued their spying business.
And cashing Murdoch's cheques for 'dirty deeds done not dirt cheap'.
Rees even crowed that "no-one pays like the News of the World".
Andy Coulson enjoyed the fruits of Rees work when he became editor of the News of the World.
Rees was finally jailed for fraud and planting false evidence at a crime scene.
Ex-Met, Sidney Fillery was busted for child pornography but escaped jail and put on a 3 year probation.
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