Phone Hacking Trial: Two prosecution witnesses “thoroughly tainted”, Andy Coulson’s lawyer tells jury – Martin Hickman

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Jury Put it out of your mind that anybody at the top of News International has to pay for the phone hacking scandal says Timothy Langdale Andy Coulson’s defence lawyer. Interesting!

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_44343516_timothylangdale203Day 110, Part 1: Two key prosecution witnesses against former News of the World editor Andy Coulson are “thoroughly tainted”, his lawyer told the phone hacking trial today.

Timothy Langdale QC, attacked the credibility of ex-NoW reporters Clive Goodman and Dan Evans at the start of his two-day closing speech at the Old Bailey.

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Phone Hacking Trial: Closing Speech, Clive Goodman “groomed” to take sole blame for phone hacking- Martin Hickman

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Damning summing up by David Spens for defendant Clive Goodman who says he was ” groomed ” by Andy Coulson to take the phone hacking rap so other NI executives could escape blame.

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davidspens(1)Day 109: Clive Goodman, the News of the World’s royal editor, was “groomed” to take sole blame for the phone hacking scandal, his lawyer told a court today.

Making his closing speech at the phone hacking trial, David Spens, QC, said his client was encouraged by executives to stay silent in 2006-07 about the full scale of illegality at the paper as part of a “cynical” cover-up.

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Met Police ” smear ” rape victim in Fernbridge investigation

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More damaging revelations are published today on the Exaro website about the Met Police’s handling of a  victim who came forward saying she was raped in her youth by a man who went on to become a prominent Tory Cabinet minister.

My colleague  Mark Conrad reports  that ” Jane” who brought  the allegations to the Met Police is extremely upset that not only did they not put the allegations to the ex-minister but told other people about her medical record which could cast doubt on the validity of her claims.

She told Exaro:“I am very angry. My medical history has nothing to do with the statements that I gave to the police about the rape. I volunteered information on my background and medical history to the police, and expected that it would be treated in confidence.”

This suggests that this particular case has not been well handled. I have met ” Jane”  and  she is remarkably clear about the events that happened to her so long ago.

Again this raises the issue which Tom Watson, the Labour MP, has taken up with the Director of Public Prosecutions, that the case should be reviewed. And so it should soon.

A modern morality tale: The decline and fall of Brian Coleman

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Brian Coleman: Once high on the hog now out of politics

Brian Coleman: Once high on the hog now out of politics

Last week’s local elections  which saw  a massive revival for Labour in London – also witnessed the disappearance from political life of one Brian Coleman.

The once powerful chair of the London fire authority and domineering Tory figure in Barnet Council saw defeat at the hands of  the electors of Totteridge after being finally disowned by the Tory Party and forced to stand as an independent.

Four years ago Mr Coleman was riding high and he knew it. His extortionate expenses claims from the taxpayer were one of the highest  for a councillor in the country. His disdain and hatred of  the Fire Brigades Union and anything that London firefighters stood for was beyond any reason.

 His introduction of a hated parking system in the borough and championing of outright privatisation of everything that moved were well beyond  the pale – down to tearing down posters  from small shopkeepers opposing his parking scheme and even assaulting one of the people who objected to it.

 He seemed to revel in  the role of a Pantomine villain goading and bullying opponents almost wanting  the electorate to hiss  and boo him while centre stage.in whatever political drama he had created. Even Tory mayor Boris Johnson, not one to avoid the limelight, sometimes put his head in his hands at the mention of his name. No wonder he was sometimes called Mr Toad or worse.

Obviously there is a debate to be had between the Right and Left about the running of our public services, the role of unions but there was no need to show such contempt for one’s opponents and arrogance about using taxpayers’ money for expensive  and excessive taxi journeys running to hundreds of pounds.

 His defenders tended to call him a ” colourful character ” or  “a good Conservative” but this was beyond just human foibles. In a way  his demise is a modern morality tale that would not disgrace in another century a story from Chaucer.

 His final act on Twitter as he was defeated was to report that he was at home listening to arias from Puccini’s tragic opera Tosca. Here the heroine throws herself off a parapet in the final scene. While I would never wish such a fate for Mr Coleman it seemed a fitting dramatic musical  backdrop to the end of a political career that almost brought down the borough of Barnet for the Tories and may still do so after a by election at the end of next month.

 

 

Phone Hacking Trial: Rebekah Brooks “a victim of a witchunt by prosecuting authorities” – Martin Hickman

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So the powerful Rebekah Brooks has been a victim herself- subject to a misogynist witch hunt according to her defence lawyer,Jonathan Laidlaw

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Rebekah BrooksDay 108: Rebekah Brooks is the victim of a “witch-hunt” by the prosecuting authorities, her lawyer said today.

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Why Tom Watson is right to press the DPP to review the rape claim against a former Tory minister

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Action is urgently needed to press the Met  Police to continue their investigation into the claims that a former Tory cabinet minister raped a 19-year-old woman when he was at the beginning of his career.

 The allegations came to light in the Operation Fernbridge investigation – which is mainly centred around the abuse of boys at a Richmond children’s home and at the Elm Guest House. It only emerged because of the alleged figures involved in child sexual abuse was also said to have raped a young woman.

So Tom Watson is right to draw attention to the way the case has been handled by the Met Police to Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions.

 The full report is on the Exaro website but it raises deep questions about the way the police treated an allegation of rape  in 2013. To give you a flavour  Tom Watson’s letter says :“The elements of lack of freedom and capacity to consent make the decision highly irregular. This is shocking in itself.

“It further troubles me that the senior police officer who dropped the case revealed to the victim that he apparently took a series of worthless stereotypes and other irrelevant points into consideration.”

“Most of these stereotypes have been blown out of the water in recent months. Or so I thought.

“There has been a sea change in the climate surrounding rape, historic cases in particular. Why is it that the tide has not reached this case?”

Those who may doubt the woman’s description of the case can listen and see her account on the Exaro website here.

What you will know is that the police never put it to the alleged perpetrator. There are too many unanswered questions in the Met Police’s handling of this for no action to be taken. So Tom Watson is right to demand it.

 

Phone Hacking Trial: Brooks’ Defence Counsel begins closing speech – Martin Hickman

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Blistering defence of Rebekah Brooks by her defence counsel, Jonathan Laidlaw who insists there was ” very little hacking” under her editorship.

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Rebekah BrooksDay 107:   The Crown’s case that Rebekah Brooks plotted to hack phones is “entirely circumstantial” and based on theory rather than evidence, her lawyer told the Old Bailey today.

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Phone Hacking Trial: Prosecution; Brooks, Coulson and Kuttner knew all about phone hacking – Martin Hickman

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Andrew Edis’s savage indictment of Brooks, Coulson and Kuttner over phone hacking.

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CoulsonBrooksKuttnerDay 106, Part 2:   Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and Stuart Kuttner knew all about phone hacking from the time the News of the World targeted Milly Dowler and did nothing to stop it carrying on for years, the Old Bailey was told today.

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Operation Fernbridge: A worrying failure over a rape case

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Before Operation Fernbridge was  launched I received a high level promise from the police that whoever participated in the Richmond child sex abuse scandal – however high and mighty – would be prosecuted if the police could get the evidence.

 This ” no holds barred” approach gave me confidence that despite three failed attempts to get to the bottom of the scandal at Richmond’s Grafton Close children’s home and the notorious Elm Guest House that we would get a result.

 My belief is now being severely tested following a series of events – including the fresh disclosures from  the Labour MP for Rochdale Simon Danzcuk about how the police never took any action against Sir Cyril Smith, despite ample examples of his connections to paedophile activity..

 What has particularly shaken me are the revelations meticulously put together by my colleague Mark Conrad and disclosed in a series of articles in Exaro News this week and in the Sunday People about the principal suspect in more than one historic paedophile scandal- A former Tory Cabinet minister.

 The  detailed allegations this time from a woman about events when she was just 19 and the man was at the beginning of his career make chilling and dramatic reading – and under today’s standards very few people would doubt she was sexually assaulted without her consent. I need not repeat the full circumstances – you can read  them in a series of articles in Exaro News if you want a blow-by-blow account.

The good news is that Tom Watson – the MP who first raised the issue of  leading political figures being involved  in historic paedophile rings – has written to Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, demanding a review of the police’s handling of the case and he is very critical of the way the police have handled it. I hope she takes notice.

The Met Police have of course said little about this. However the nearest explanation for their non action is on The Needleblog  .

My concern about this is three-fold. First of all it appears that there has been a serious failure by the Met police to take seriously a claim from a credible witness at a time when people are being encouraged to report historic rape and sexual abuse cases. This provides little confidence for others to come forward.

Second it appears that the allegations are far stronger than many of allegations being put to celebrities facing trial at the moment.

Third it is not clear that Crown Prosecution Service was presented with a full file by the Met Police who never even put such strong allegations to the perpetrator.

All this is worrying. The most worrying aspect of it all is that the police appear to be losing their appetite to pursue this high profile figure – suggesting there is one rule for celebrities and another for anybody with real power like a politician. The failure to pursue this is not an isolated incident in  Operation Fernbridge. On the contrary other allegations when they refer to the notorious Elm Guest House appear to be dropped or ignored as well.

 

Phone Hacking Trial: Jury to retire to consider verdicts on 9 June – Martin Hickman

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Finally a date is set for the jury to retire and consider their verdict as Clive Goodman completes his evidence.

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??????????????????????? Day 106:  The jury in the phone hacking trial is set to retire to consider its verdicts on 9 June 2014, three weeks today, Mr Justice Saunders said this morning.

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