So Rebekah Brooks admits paying out cash to public officials without knowing who they were – and that her treatment of Clare Short, a former labour Cabinet minister, over her page three campaigns was ” cruel and harsh”.
Day 59:
One of Rupert Murdoch’s most senior executives told a court today that she authorised payments to public officials in return for information for stories in his British newspapers.
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The Met Police are close to charging people in the investigation sparked off by Tom Watson’s claims of a paedophile ring at the time of the Thatcher government.
A report in Exaro News reveals that after interviewing and contacting some 100 people police are confident that they have a number of high profile witnesses -including an Anglican bishop, a pre eminent businessman and a well known journalist – who have given statements alleging sexual abuse or attempted sexual abuse.
The victims have come forward under Operation Cayacos – a spin-off from the original scoping study, Operation Fairbank – which has now been going on for over 18 months.
Watson alleged in Parliament that a network run by Peter Righton, the notorious paedophile, reached into the top levels of British politics. The MP raised the issue in prime minister’s questions soon after the exposure of Jimmy Savile, the late BBC star, as a paedophile.
The late Righton – at one time regarded as a leading specialist in child protection – was a founder of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), which promoted sex with children. The organisation has recently been in the centre of a furious row after the Daily Mail published a series of stories showing that it was affiliated to the National Council for Civil Liberties during a period when Labour’s deputy leader, Harriet Harman, was its legal adviser. Harman has accused the Daily Mail of smears.
Patricia Hewitt, a former Labour Cabinet minister was general secretary of the NCCL and according to The Guardian was involved in discussions with PIE over lowering the age of consent for sexual activity.
According to the witness, Righton boasted of links to powerful figures in government.
When police raided Righton’s house in Evesham, Worcestershire in 1992, they found hard-core images of child abuse from Amsterdam and a “quarter-century of correspondence” between paedophiles in Britain and around the world. But police failed to follow-up the leads at the time, prompting allegations by Watson 16 months ago of an ‘establishment’ cover-up.
The move suggests that the police have made more progress in this investigation than in Operation Fernbridge – which has led to two people facing trial at Southwark Crown Court in May.
Second denial re Milly Dowler story from Rebekah Brooks
Day 57, Part 2:
Rebekah Brooks today denied ordering newspaper executives to remove a reference to a hacked voicemail from a story about Milly Dowler.
The News of the World changed a story on 13 April 2002 about a voicemail left for the missing 13-year-old after police questioned its veracity.
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Rebekah Brooks defence: I learned about the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone from The Guardian. Fascinating.
Day 57, Part 1:
Rebekah Brooks today denied any involvement in the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone. Giving evidence at the Old Bailey, Mrs Brooks said she had not known that the schoolgirl’s voicemail had been intercepted days after her disappearance in 2002.
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This is an important blog and worth following. If you are either concerned or interested in the issues surrounding the treatment of child abuse survivors it provides a valuable insight. I cannot reveal the identity of the person who is behind it for legal reasons but I can assure anyone following my blog that the person knows what he is talking about.
The Police clearly have a difficult job in investigating allegations of historical abuse.
These people are specialists in this area, and spend much of their time wading through the filth of our society. Their focus is on apprehending criminals, but they are human beings, and generally trying to make the world a better place. The time spent working in this area is limited, mainly due to the huge personal impact on them. Spare a thought for the officers who pursue allegations, aware that there is insufficient support for victims, but who do their utmost to make the best of a bad situation. Like a tanker, they leave a huge wake, and they know this but try to control this as best they can.
The Police do not have access to proper support for victims – and they know this! They understand that this is a force-wide issue, and people within…
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A4e: Improving People’s lives -obviously not for lone parents in this case
Remarkably unreported this month (outside one Daily Mail report) is that four of private work provider A4e’s staff who ripped off the taxpayer and lone parents have pleaded guilty to 30 acts of fraud and forgery.
I am indebted to FE Week for a report from Reading Crown Court that saw the four admit their crimes and now face sentencing later. It reports:
“Ex-A4e recruiters Julie Grimes, Aditi Singh, Bindiya Dholiwar and Dean Lloyd, pleaded guilty to more than 30 charges of forgery and fraud when they appeared at Reading Crown Court on Monday, February 3.
The case followed a police investigation into financial rewards claimed for helping the unemployed into work through the European Social Fund ‘Aspire to Inspire’ Lone Parent mentoring programme, which ended in July 2011.
It is alleged that they forged documentation to support fraudulent claims for rewards for work with learners who had not found work or did not exist over a period of four years until February last year.
Grimes, 51, of Staines, admitted nine charges of forgery and Lloyd, 37, of Milton Keynes, admitted 13 offences of forgery.
Dholiwar, 27, of Slough, admitted seven counts of forgery while Singh, 30, of Slough, admitted two counts of forgery and one of fraud. No date was set for set for sentencing.
The magazine reports that the trial of eight other ex-A4e defendants, who pleaded not guilty to all charges at Reading Crown Court, including conspiracy to cheat, is expected to start on October 6.
A further defendant, Nikki Foster, aged 30, of Reading, recruiter, was not at court on Monday. She was due to appear later this month.
The magazine also carries a statement from the chief executive of A4e who appears to be remarkably complacent that everything is OK in the rest of the company.
Andrew Dutton, A4e chief executive, said: “I am deeply disappointed that a small number of people who formerly worked for A4e on the Aspire to Inspire contract in the Thames Valley up to 2011 clearly let down the people they were supposed to help, and in turn the taxpayer, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and A4e.
“A4e co-operated fully with the police enquiry, after our own internal investigation first brought these incidents to light.
“Since these events took place, we have augmented our controls and processes to seek to ensure that nothing like this could ever happen again…..
He goes on: “I would also like to say thank you to our 3,000 loyal, hard-working and principled staff who each day deliver public services to the highest standards that help to improve the lives of thousands of the most vulnerable in our society.
“I am intensely proud of what they do and deeply sorry that the allegations have for so long cast a shadow over their good work.”
There is a little bit of amnesia here. I seem to remember a certain Commons Public Accounts Committee report in 2012 following hearings from whistleblowers who worked for A4e among others.
Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, is reported as saying at the time “Where the Government chooses to use private companies to deliver public services it is essential that proper arrangements are in place to prevent and detect fraud and malpractice. In this instance, the DWP’s arrangements for overseeing and inspecting its contractors were so weak that vital evidence on potential fraud and improper practice was not picked up. The Department failed, for example, to obtain from A4e damning internal audit reports produced in 2009 which pointed to instances of potential fraud and malpractice across the country.” …
“If it had not been for whistleblowers, a range of systemic issues would not have been identified. The Department might have identified these issues if it had asked the right questions of providers. The recent investigation into A4e looked at particular allegations of fraud but not at the more fundamental question of whether the company was a ‘fit and proper’ contractor.”
Need I say more! I won’t in respect of the eight other A4e employees so they get a fair trial.
A good comprehensive guide to what will happen next in the phone hacking trial – and also a heads up on two new trials fixed for later this year.
The defence case in the phone hacking trial will begin on Wednesday 19 February 2014, which is week 14 of the trial. Each of defendants presents his or her case in the order that their names are on the indictment: Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Clive Goodman, Cheryl Carter, Mark Hanna and finally Charlie Brooks.
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A child sex abuse victim has identified a second house in the London borough of Richmond where children in care in the borough were taken en route to Elm Guest House.
The property in Avondale Road, Mortlake, has since changed hands but appears to be some sort of holding house for children in care who were taken out for the day.
The Met police have been informed about the existence of the property but it is not clear whether it is part of their current investigation under Operation Fernbridge.
A report by my colleague Mark Conrad on the Exaro website interviews the victim who says that he knows of other children taken to the property in the 1980s.
Elm Guest House is part of a current investigation but no charges have been brought against anybody for abusing children there. The guest house was at the time used by gays including it is claimed by MPs and other important figures. The Met Police have said that one of the visitors was Sir Cyril Smith, the Liberal Democrat MP, who since his death has been exposed as a paedophile.
An amazing insight into insider wheeler dealing when you are facing a legal suit from a very powerful figure
Day 52, Part 2: Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper group considered dispatching one of his favourite executives with a bundle of cash to settle a lawsuit for phone hacking, the Old Bailey heard today.
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An extraordinary statistic from the Metropolitan Police. If correct it shows a truly industrial hacking operation.
Day 52: News International staff or contractors made more than 6,000 calls to voicemail inboxes before police smashed the phone hacking operation at the News of the World, the phone hacking trial heard today.
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Westminster Confidential 