Daniel Morgan Murder Cover-Up.: #Leveson Inquiry : Dave Cook Led a Met Investigati...

 A former Scotland Yard officer arrested over allegations of unauthorised leaks to a journalist has asked to play a key role in the judicial inquiry into press standards.

Ex-detective chief superintendent Dave Cook yesterday requested core participant status, which means he is able to cross-examine witnesses who appear before Lord Justice Leveson.

Mr Cook, 52, who returned to work as an investigator for the Serious Organised Crime Agency this week after six months off sick, is understood to have encountered "obscene corruption" while at the Met. A source close to the inquiry claimed he is due to give evidence to Leveson and could reveal the full scale of alleged wrongdoing he encountered at the force.

Mr Cook was questioned yesterday on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and bailed. The Independent Police Complaints Commission had been passed information by Met detectives from Operation Elveden, investigating alleged payments to police officers by newspapers.

In 2002, Mr Cook led a Met investigation into the axe murder of private eye Daniel Morgan in Sydenham 25 years ago. Main suspects included Met officers and private investigators who also worked for the News of the World. The investigation collapsed last year amid criticism of police evidence.

Soon after Mr Cook made a fresh appeal about the case on Crimewatch in June 2002, he discovered he was under surveillance by men working for the defunct Sunday tabloid.

Mr Cook, whose phone was hacked by the NoW, challenged then editor Rebekah Brooks in December 2002. She admitted the paper had been following him but claimed it was investigating whether he was having an affair with Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames. However, it was well-known the pair were married.

Today, a friend said of the leak allegations: "I believe this arrest is a measure to quieten him down ahead of his involvement in the Leveson inquiry. He knows where all the bodies are buried. This is an attempt to blacken his name."

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24026779-former-yard-detective-arrested-over-leaks-to-journalist.do

 

Daniel Morgan Murder Cover-Up.: #Leveson Inquiry : Dave Cook Led a Met Investigati...: 

Guest post: Last chance to save Disability Living Allowance

 Last week’s votes in the House of Lords in which the government were defeated 3 times in their plans to make Britain a crueller place were an outstanding success for this country’s disability rights activists. The Uncut community helped make this happen by tweeting and emailing peers telling them that dismantling state assistance for people unable to work was not acceptable.

We need your help again.

Tomorrow, the Lords will vote on amendments to preserve Disability Living Allowance (DLA). The most glaring fact that you need to know is this: They plan to cut the Disability Living Allowance budget by 20% despite the fact that only 0.5% of claims are fraudulent. This means that one in every five genuine DLA claimants will be losing out on money we depend on to get by.

Despite what you’ve probably read in the papers; DLA is not an out-of-work benefit. If you need to use a wheelchair to get around or you need help to get out of bed; those needs don’t go away because you’ve got a job so the money to pay for that help doesn’t go away either.

As a manual wheelchair user who gets the care component for supervision because of my unfortunate habit of doing things like snapping a rib when I bend down to pick something up: I’m set to lose everything. I honestly don’t know how I’ll be able to cope without that small amount of support. The government keep saying that the reforms are about “making work pay,” but as DLA is what enables many disabled people to work, these cuts will force a lot of people out of the workplace. 

More -  

https://web.archive.org/web/20120212171619/http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/guest-post-last-chance-to-save-disability-living-allowance#.TxR7mnE5V2Q.blogger