Category Archives: police

Stingemore and McSweeney plead not guilty to all charges in Richmond child sex abuse scandal

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John Stingemore, the former deputy manager of Grafton Close  children’s home in Richmond and Father Tony McSweeney,a Roman Catholic priest have pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges against them following the Operation Fernbridge investigation. A report is on the Exaro News website

Stingemore,aged 72, has denied five charges of indecent assault, one of taking an indecent picture and one of indecency with a child. McSweeney, a 66 year old priest ,pleaded not guilty to seven charges,  two of indecent assault, three of making indecent images  of children , one of taking an indecent image of a child  and one of possessing indecent pictures of children.

 Five charges against  both men made during the initial hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court earlier this year were not pressed. They included a conspiracy with persons unknown to commit buggery and two counts of indecent assault against Stingemore and one case of indecent assault against McSweeney.
 No date has been fixed for the trial. The hearing was subject to reporting restrictions.
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Phone Hacking Trial: Palace phone directories found at home of NOTW royal editor, trial hears – Martin Hickman

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It is absolutely extraordinary that the Met police should withhold for SIX years from the Royal Household that they had found highly sensitive directories giving the private telephone numbers of the Royal Family at NoTW Royal editor Clive Goodman’s home. It shows in the early stages the Met Police seemed reluctant to investigate the phone hacking scandal.

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Clive GoodmanDay 27:  Police did not tell a senior member of the Royal Household that a large number of Buckingham Palace phone directories had been found at the home of the News of the World’s royal editor for six years, the hacking trial heard yesterday.

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Phone Hacking Trial: Brooks asked to authorise cash payment to “serving police officer”, court told – Martin Hickman

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This latest disclosure shows Rebecca Brooks being asked to authorise payments to a serving police officer while editor of The Sun and allegations that the Sun had bribed a Ministry of Defence official to get premature disclosure of the deaths of serving soldiers in Afghanistan. In one case Rebekah Brook’s lawyer pointed to a MOD press release before they published the story.

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Rebekah BrooksDay 26: Rebekah Brooks was asked to authorise a cash payment to a “serving police officer” while she edited Britain’s best-selling national newspaper The Sun, the phone hacking trial heard yesterday.

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Met Police probe former Tory Cabinet minister and a filmed gay sexual abuse party

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Met police have seized a picture and amateur film from a known paedophile of a gay sex party attended by a former Tory cabinet minister where boys were sexually abused some 30 years ago.

A report in today’s Exaro News and the Sunday Mirror  reveals that the Met Police’s Paedophile obtained the information under their Operation Fairbank scoping inquiry. The paedophile cannot be named for legal reasons and the ex-minister is not being named as it would interfere with police operations.

The unit is focussing on a series of parties in London three decades ago at which boys were supplied for the sexual gratification of men. 

Sources close to the investigation say that this line of enquiry will spin-off from Fairbank to become a separate operation with its own name in the New Year.

Exaro has also learnt that police have “talked to” the ex-minister about his attendance at the “sex party”.

 The ex-minister, according to the sources, confirmed to police that he was at the party, and that he “knew of” a specific victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons. But the ex-minister denied that he carried out any sexual abuse.

The new information obtained by the police follows two separate but linked operations,Operation Fernbridge and Operation Fairbank – one sparked off by one of my sources and the other by Tom Watson, MP who  made allegations in the Commons.

The police action follows a setback when the Crown Prosecution Service dropped charges against two people in connection with abusing boys at Elm Guest House in the London borough of Richmond. Separately the police made a decision to release without  charge, Harry Kasir, the former co-manager of the guest house.

While it would be wrong to speculate about police inquiries, I think it is worth pointing out that in this long investigation the Met Police Paedophile Unit seems to be woefully inadequately resourced to handle all the leads it gets. When you realise that fewer police are employed in this tightly knit unit than the Met Police employ to pursue the Plebgate affair and journalists from News International, you wonder who sets the priorities. It is not to say that Plebgate or News International should not be pursued, but one would have thought the life damaging crime of child sexual abuse should receive the highest priority for police investigations. excluding say murder or terrorism. It is clearly not

Phone Hacking Trial: Police investigate Army officer over £4,000 picture of Prince William in The Sun – Martin Hickman

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This vignette about a £4000 payment by the Sun for a picture of Prince William in a bikini shines light on another aspect of a current police investigation, Operation Elveden, corrupt payments to officials by News International. The court is told by the Met police that they have 60 officers pursuing 80 to 90 lines of inquiry – a very large operation indeed. Unusually the court is told of an existing police investigation- with one army officer due to be interviewed by the police about payments for the picture when he comes back from an overseas posting.

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sun-getcccctyDay 25: Detectives are carrying out a live investigation into whether a senior Army officer leaked a photograph of Prince William in a bikini to the Sun, the phone hacking trial heard today. An email from a Sun journalist discussing a payment of £4,000 for the image, taken at a fancy dress party while the prince was undergoing his military training, referred to it coming from “William’s direct platoon commander.”

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Elm Guest House owner released without charge

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Harry Kasir, the co-owner of Elm Guest House in Barnes, south west London has been released without charge by the police.
A report in Exaro News today discloses that detectives at Operation Fernbridge released Mr Kasir who ran the guest house with his wife Carole and said to be the centre of a VIP paedophile ring between 1979 and 1983.
Investigations into Elm Guest House are still continuing by the police as are investigations into the now closed Grafton Close children’s home run by Richmond Council in south west London.
Kasir has refused to comment about what happened at Elm Guest House. He did not return calls seeking comment about the police decision to release him without charge.
Sources close to Operation Fernbridge told Exaro that detectives were hoping that Kasir would become a key witness. However, he refused to talk to them about his time as co-manager of Elm Guest House.
After a police raid on the guest house in 1982, the Kasirs were convicted at the Old Bailey of running a disorderly house – meaning a brothel – and fined £1,000 each. They were given nine-month prison sentences, suspended for two years.

The former Elm Tree Guest House i Pic courtesy: Exaro

The former Elm Tree Guest House i Pic courtesy: Exaro

Crown Prosecution Service to drop some charges in Richmond child abuse scandal

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The Met Police paedophile unit has suffered a set back in its long running investigation into historic child abuse in Richmond after the Crown Prosecution Service has decided to drop some of the charges.
A story in Exaro News mainly by my colleague Mark Conrad reveals that the CPS have done a U-turn by changing their mind over four out of the 18 charges against 71-year-old John Stingemore,the former deputy manager of Grafton Close children’s home in Richmond on Thames, and 66-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Tony McSweeney.
It is dropping the charge against Stingemore of conspiracy with persons unknown to commit buggery, along with two counts of indecent assault. But Stingemore, still faces six charges of indecent assault against five boys aged between 11 and 15, and two counts of taking indecent images of a child.
The CPS is also understood to have changed its mind about prosecuting one charge of indecent assault against McSweeney. McSweeney still faces one charge of indecent assault against a boy aged between 11 and 15, three counts of making indecent images of a child, one of taking indecent images of a child and a further count of possessing indecent images of a child.
The decision has left the witness bewildered at his treatment by the CPS, and he is seeking an explanation as to why prosecutors are dropping the charges when they had decided to bring them only four months ago.
He said: “I am devastated. It has taken me years to reach this point. The police knocked on my door when they sought information, and now this.” He is asking the CPS to review its decision.”
Curiously the CPS told him no other witnesses have said they were sexually assaulted at Elm Guest House, an assertion contradicted by another witness who says he gave the police a statement saying he was sexually abused there.The situation is about as clear as mud.

Phone Hacking Trial: Hundreds of hacking calls made from ‘private wire’ inside NI HQ, jury told – Martin Hickman

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This is a breathtaking disclosure of a huge number of hacking calls made not from private investigator Glenn Mulcaire who police discovered had been paid £1m by News International over many years but actually from inside News International HQ.
When one thinks it is alleged that Prince William and Harry’s private secretary was targeted 416 times in nine months and even journalists on the rival Mail on Sunday were receiving hacking calls this appears like an industrial scale enterprise.

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News-International-007Day 24: Hundreds of hacking calls were made from a “private wire” inside News International’s headquarters, the Old Bailey heard today.

Among those whose voicemails were accessed from the “generic” phone link at Wapping in east London were Katie Price, Tessa Jowell, celebrity PR advisor Alan Edwards and three Mail on Sunday journalists – Sebastian Hamilton, Dennis Rice and Laura Collins, the hacking trial was told.

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Glenn Mulcaire’s £1m payments from the News International

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A fascinating memo has been released at the hacking trial this week and published on the great blog by freelance journalist PeterJukes.
Written by Tom Crone one of News International’s former trusted lawyers and sent to Andy Coulson, then editor of the paper, it details information apparently obtained by Rebekah Brooks from the police on the progress of the police investigation into the later convicted hackers,ex Royal correspondent Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
It correctly predicts that the police are likely to ” bang to rights ” both of them. But interestingly it reveals that the police recovered invoices and payments totalling ” over a £1m” to Glenn Mulcaire revealing what a successful career the hacker had with the organisation over many,many years.
Ironically the cost of his work and others as Exaro News revealed before the trial has been secretly estimated by former News International chief executive as up to £1 billion in compensation to hacked victims,legal fees and support for suspended staff.
You can read the memo in full on Peter Jukes ‘s website plus two memos from Andy Coulson to his staff seeking new stories.
It is interesting to see how well-informed Rebekah Brooks was about the state of the investigation and what the police would later find out. A ” must read” I would say.

Phone Hacking Trial: Rebekah Brooks assured PCC “any journalist who breaks the law” was liable to summary dismissal – Martin Hickman

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Theses assurances were given to the Press Complaints Commission personally by Rebekah Brooks who tells them that anybody breaking the law at News International faces the sack. She is now accused at the Old Bailey of authorising illegal payments of £40,000. I am saying nothing!

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Day 19 (Part 2):  Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers “placed great emphasis” on the code of practice for journalists, Rebekah Brooks told the Press Complaints Commission two years before she was arrested for suspected phone hacking and corruption.

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