27 February 2012

The Leveson Inquiry - Module 2 : Police/Press - Day 1

Lord Justice Leveson
  "The focus of the Inquiry is ‘the culture, practices and ethics of the press’ in the context of the latter’s relationship with the public, the police and politicians. All of these matters overlap, and my goal must be to consider what lessons, if any, may be learned from past events and what recommendations, if any, should be made for the future, in particular as regards press regulation, governance and other systems of oversight."

Module 2

"The relationship between the press and the police and the extent to which that has operated in the public interest."

Useful Links:
Leveson Inquiry Witness Statements HERE Witness list for this week (6th - 9th February) to be found HERE 
Video Recordings of each day's proceedings HERE
Live Feed From Leveson Inquiry Site HERE
BBC Democracy Live Feed HERE 
Telegraph Live Blog HERE
Guardian Live Blog HERE
=============================================== 
Links to today's articles, blogs, comment and information relevant to the Leveson Inquiry:
  • From Guardian Live Blog:
10:15 a.m. Dan Sabbagh has just tweeted:
  • From Guardian Live Blog:
10:45 a.m. Lisa O'Carroll has just tweeted from the high court:
  • From Telegraph Live Blog:
10.56 Information appears to have been given to Rebekah Wade, now Brooks, by someone involved with the police, Mr Jay says, referring to an email from Tom Crone to Andy Coulson. It also showed Brooks knew police had found evidence of more than £1 million paid to Mulcaire from News International.
The email also appeared to indicate police asked Brooks whether she "wanted to take it further", relating to the investigation.
  • From Guardian Live Blog:
11:20 a.m. Here's a rough transcript of that critical email, written by Tom Crone to Andy Coulson on 15 September 2006, with the subject "strictly private and confidential". It is based on a briefing that Crone, the chief lawyer of the News of the World was told by Rebekah Brooks, who was then editor of the Sun. We don't yet have a transcript, but Robert Jay QC has read it out. Not every aspect of this is clear, but the overall flavour is:
"Andy, here's Rebekah told me about info relayed to her by cops.
1. They are confident they have Clive and [Mulcaire] bang to rights on the palace interception.
2. …accesses to voicemails.From these they have a list of 100-110 victims.
3. The only payment records they found were from News International … the News of the World retainer and other invoices. They said that over the period they looked at (going way back) there seemed to be over £1m of payments.
4. The recordings and notes .. replaced by the next one who becomes flavour of the week/month.
5. They are visiting the bigger victims, ie where there are lots of intercepts.
6. Their purpose is to insure that when Glenn Mulcaire comes up in court the full case against him is there for the court to see (rather than just the present palace charges).
7. All they are asking victims is "did you give anyone permission to access your voicemail?" and if not "do you wish to make a formal complaint?"...
8. They are confident that ... they can then charge Glenn Mulcaire in relation to those victims. They are keen that the charges should demonstrate the scale of Glenn Mulcaire's activities so they would feature victims from different areas of public life, politics, showbiz, etc
"In terms of News of the World (a) they suggested ...News of the World journalists directly accessing the voicemails (this is what did for Clive). (b) but they have got hold of News of the World back numbers to 2004 and are trying to ... Goodman accesses to specific stories. (c) in one case they seemed to have a phrase from a News of the World story which is identical to the tape or note of Glenn Mulcaire's access. (d) they have no recordings of News of the World people speaking to Glenn Mulcaire or accessing voicemails. (e) they do have Glenn Mulcaire's phone records which show sequences of contacts with News of the World before and after accesses. Obviously they don't have the content of the calls so this is at best circumstantial."
And point 10: "They are going to contact RW [we think that must be Rebekah Wade] today to see if she wishes to take it further."
  • Labour MP Tom Watson has just tweeted:
  •  Dan Sabbagh has just tweeted:
tom_watson tom_watson I have written to the HMRC asking for an investigation into cash payments by the Sun. Will publish letter on blog later today. #Leveson 


 From Telegraph Live Blog:
11.37 Neil Garnham QC, for the Met, is now making a statement to the hearing. He says phone-hacking was not a matter of "life or limb".
There were, at the time of the original phone hacking investigation, 72 live terrorist plots under investigation...The inquiry should have at the forefront of its mind the obligations on the then commissioners to prioritise their limited resources in a way that best protected the people of London. The judgement that had to be made here was perfectly obvious; it was only five months before the phone hacking investigation began that London had been the subject of the terror attacks of 7/7.
  • From Guardian Live Blog:
Veteran media commentator Ray Snoddy has just tweeted:
  • From Guardian Live Blog:
Rupert Murdoch. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
Rupert Murdoch has just issued the following statement about testimony given at the Leveson inquiry:
As I've made very clear, we have vowed to do everything we can to get to the bottom of prior wrongdoings in order to set us on the right path for the future. That process is well underway. The practices Sue Akers described at the Leveson inquiry are ones of the past, and no longer exist at the Sun. We have already emerged a stronger company.
  • gordonrayner Gordon Rayner Uncensored version of papers should include names of News of the World execs who ordered #hacking. 
  • gordonrayner Gordon Rayner Mr Justice Vos agrees to release largely unredacted version of #hacking court papers released last week (more follows) 
  • gordonrayner Gordon Rayner Unredacted version of court papers now expected to be made available tomorrow #hacking

    • Tweet from Ian Katz:
    Worth re-reading these denials in light of nws that Coulson + Brooks were warned in 2006
    • Labour MP Tom Watson has just tweeted:
    • From Rupert Murdoch's Twitter feed:
    rupertmurdoch Rupert Murdoch Amazing! The Sun confirmed sale of 3.260,000 copies yesterday. Thanks all readers and advertisers. Sorry if sold out - more next time. 
        ==========================================================================  
        Monday February 27th 2012.
        (Leveson Inquiry Module 1, Day 40 can be found HERE)

        Opening Statement by Robert Jay QC

        Today's Witnesses:
        DAC Sue Akers (MPS)
        Brian Paddick
        Sir John Prescott

        DAC Sue Akers (MPS)




          2nd Witness Statement in Full
          Previous Witness Statement, Correction to Evidence Given


          Guardian Live Blog HERE
          Telegraph Live Blog HERE

          From Guardian Live Blog:
          Akers says there was "a culture at the Sun of illegal payments".
          11.18am: Akers says payments were made not only to police officers but wide range of public officials – military, health, government, prisons and others. She suggests payments being made to officials in all areas of public life – there was a "network of corrupted officials", not in contact with each other, but journalists had network upon whom which to call.
          Payments to sources were openly referred to at the Sun, not named but the category of public official was named. Payments emphasised need for care and cash payments.There was also "trade craft" hiding payments to sources by making them to a friend or relative of the source. It was authorised at "very senior level" within the newspaper.

          Brian Paddick






          Witness Statement in Full

          Guardian Live Blog HERE
          Telegraph Live Blog HERE

          From Guardian Live Blog:
          Paddick says while he was at the Met he had lunch with staff from the Guardian and the Daily Mirror – although he describes the latter as "more of an audience with Piers Morgan".
          Paddick says he also has a working relationship with a (now former) Financial Times journalist Jimmy Burns.
          "We were on the same page in wanting reform of the police, better handling of race relations and that sort of thing," says Paddick. "We had an immediate rapport and had a series of lunches that he paid for."

          Paddick says former Met police commissioner Sir John Stevens had a strong relationship with the press and received very little criticism, but his successor, Sir Ian Blair, tried to change the force's culture and faced constant attacks.
          From Telegraph Live Blog:
          12.25 Mr Paddick explains he developed a relationship with crime reporter Jimmy Burns, of the Financial Times. The pair met over the Macpherson report in the wake of the killing of Stephen Lawrence.
          It became quite apparent that Mr Burns and I were on the same page in terms of wanting reform of the police, getting the police to be better at handling race relations. We subsequently had a series of lunches that he paid for where we discussed the possibility of moving things forward in terms of a culture change within the police.
          He goes on to discuss a lunch with the Daily Mirror, which was "more like an audience with Piers Morgan".

          From Guardian Live Blog:
          More from Paddick's witness statement concerning the relationship of other newspapers with the Met:
          Although most victims were not informed, in October 2006 the MPS specifically emailed John Wellington, managing editor at the Mail on Sunday, to let him know that names of a number of his journalists had been discovered in Mulcaire's documents. Once again, the relationship between the Met and certain tabloids was being prioritised over the rights of other victims.
          The inquiry has now resumed and Brian Paddick is being asked about phone hacking. He was a police commander at the time and says the inquiry was handled by the Met's anti-terrorism and royal protection unit, SO13.
          Paddick was told by police investigators there was "no evidence of illegal interception or monitoring of his phone".But his name did appear in Mulcaire's documents, says Jay.
          Paddick says the evidence was that he was one of Mulcaire's "projects". "Reasonable there was a prima facie case I was a target for phone hacking," Paddick tells the inquiry.
          Paddick says his mobile phone number was in Mulcaire's notebook, which he says is enough to warrant further investigation.
          Paddick says one of the methods Mulcaire used was persuading the telecoms company to reset mobile the pin number to default by phoning their helpdesk.
          From Telegraph Live Blog:
          14.28 Meanwhile, Mr Paddick is telling the inquiry that Mulcaire appeared to have possession of the new identities of people under the witness protection programme such as the killers of James Bulger.
          14.45 Coming to the end of his evidence, Mr Paddick says:

          There are thousands of honest decent police officers who like me are horrified by the sort of conduct that Sue Akers was talking about this morning..a lot of junior officers feel very let down by their senior officers. I want and they want a MPS that they can be proud of and I think that’s what the public want as well.
          From Telegraph Live Blog:
          14.52 Mr Paddick rejects the claim that public officials can legitimately be paid for information for public interest stories. He says it is an "acid test" of public interest if an official is willing to risk their job without pay to divulge information.
          14.56 Mr Garnham will now ask Mr Paddick some questions before Lord Prescott is sworn in. He is asked about his lack of confidence in the integrity of the investigation. Mr Paddick says he has concerns over the independence of the Independent Police Complaints Commission and he says he feels it should be led by an officer from outside of the Met.
          From Guardian Live Blog:
          Garnham asks Paddick when is it acceptable for a police officer to accept a drink – a cup of coffee – from a journalist.
          "Having coffee in a formal meeting it doesn't really matter who pays for it," he replies. "When it comes to wining and dining it puts people under obligations."


          Sir John Prescott









          Full Witness Statement 

          Guardian Live Blog HERE
          Telegraph Live Blog HERE 

          From Telegraph Live Blog:
          15.25 Lord Prescott is being asked about allegations he was a victim of phone hacking. He says he wrote to the Met in 2009 and was quickly assured there was no evidence his phone had been tapped. It took the Met several weeks to formally tell him this in writing. 
          15.27 Lord Prescott did not use the voicemail facility on his own phone because it "means you’ve got to reply to them if they leave you a message." Instead, his messages were intercepted through his chief of staff, Joan Hammell. 
          From Guardian Live Blog:
          Prescott says both the police and the CPS told him if he accessed a message first then if someone else hacked it, it wasn't illegal. He says this was "silly nonsense".
          From Telegraph Live Blog:
          15.40 There were references to Lord Prescott's name in Mulcaire's notes along with details of payments for £250, the inquiry hears. He says:
          I did suspect at first they meant my son because the Murdoch press and the Times had done a number of stories on him but I’ve since been assured not.
          Guardian Live Blog:
          Prescott says the police were "hiding things, not telling me the truth"."Misleading statements [from police] and continuing failure to investigate ... left me deeply dissatisified" and led him to take legal action, says Prescott in his written statement.
          Telegraph Live Blog:
          15.58 Lord Prescott says he knew the categories of potential victims and knew he fit into them but his name did not appear.
          He said it left him wondering "what the hell have they got against me?"
          "How much evidence do you want to have unless you don't want to look for it?" he adds.
          16.14 Lord Prescott is asked whether the Labour government was too close to the press. He says:
          Murdoch operated with all governments. I'm not the best person to talk about relationships with the press because mine has never been good. I’ll give you my opinion. With regards to the Murdoch press, I always thought it was wrong that politicians at the highest level were too close to Murdoch…There is always a price. It’s not exactly corruption and I’m not accusing them of that...I thought it gave a corrupting influence that they had too much influence and power.
           Prescott talks about the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph: "Those brothers changed it from the Telegraph to Daily Mail 2. Politicians look at this and think 'we are not going to get a fair crack.'"
          Prescott says he "always thought it was wrong, politicians at the highest level were just too close to Murdoch."He says newspapers always exact a price.
          There is always a price. It is not exactly corruption, they do have interests, power, and in the Murdoch press it is particularly organissed to achieve that. I never went to a social do I thought you paid too much of a price for it. All of the leaders of the parties and I include Cameron they believe you have to have access to editors as though they act independently [of Murdoch]. And then the paper [the Sun] says we won it.
          Telegraph Live Blog:
          16.27 After an impassioned discussion about the political influence of the press, Lord Justice Leveson asks Lord Prescott for the solution. He replies:
          I don’t want to see a statutory control of the press but what we need is a regulatory framework. I do believe it’s a judge who should make that judgement...You have to find a balance that people think is fair. Why should I have to decide that the only way I can get the truth out is to sue the press. What’s made the difference is no-win no-cost. I just think if you can’t get redress, you’ve got to have a sanction.

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            24 February 2012

            Leveson Inquiry Witness Lists: ( Module 2 ) - 27th February - 1st March 2012

             


            Leveson Inquiry Official Website HERE

            Witnesses Appearing in this first week of Module 2 (The relationships between the press and the Police and the extent to which that has operated in the public interest.) will be:

            Monday February 27th
            DAC Sue Akers (MPS) Previous Witness Statement, Correction to Evidence Given

            Brian Paddick
            Lord Prescott

            Tuesday February 28th
            Nick Davies (Guardian) Previous Witness Statements

            Jacqui Hames
            Simon Hughes MP
            Chris Jefferies Previous Witness Statement


            Statements to be read:

            Jane Winter  Previous Witness Statement

            Magnus Boyd
            Bryan Adams 

            Wednesday February 29th
            DI Mark Maberley (MPS)
            DCS Keith Surtees (MPS)
            DCS Phillip Williams (MPS)

            Thursday March 1st
            Peter Clarke (former MPS)
            Andy Hayman (former MPS)
            John Yates (former MPS)


            Links to articles, information and comment relevant to Leveson Inquiry:

            Sunday, February 26th


             
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            More evidence of News International cover-up emerges.



            From the Telegraph, 23rd February 2011:

            Phone hacking: News of the World bosses ordered emails to be deleted

            New evidence of a cover-up of phone hacking at the News of the World has been disclosed in court documents, which show the company created a policy to delete emails which could be used against it in legal proceedings.

            Relevant Links, comment and information:

            Michael Gove SoS for Education, ex - Sunday Times Journalist







               Tuesday 24th February:
              " Last month, the high court heard that News Group Newspapers had agreed – for the purposes of resolving hacking settlements with the likes of Jude Law and Ashley Cole – that "senior employees and directors" knew about phone hacking and sought to conceal by "destroying evidence of wrongdoing, which evidence included a very substantial number of emails" and the computers of three journalists which had been used when Mulcaire was employed under contract by the News of the World."

                I wonder whether Mr. Kavanagh's recent interview with Richard Bacon on Radio 5 Live sounds rather hollow now? :-

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                17 February 2012

                Rupert Murdoch Has Landed! Now what?

                The media, Twitter users and bloggers are beside themselves today, indulging in sometimes delicious, sometimes anxious and gloomy speculation as to the outcome of Rupert Murdoch's visit to The Sun's premises for 'crisis talks' with staff there.

                Murdoch flew to Britain from the US last night after days of news reports, rumour and comment from those involved intimately with The Sun and those watching bemusedly from the sidelines.


                Rupert Murdoch arriving last night - (image from Metro)
                Links to articles, information and comment relevant to The Sun's present predicament:

                Rupert Murdoch Arrives to Tackle Sun Crisis - Guardian Live Blog - Josh halliday and Lisa O'Carroll

                1:09 p.m. Guardian Live Blog:
                In an email to staff at the Sun, Rupert Murdoch has said that all arrested staff will have their suspension lifted and return to work.
                The email says:
                We will build on the Sun's proud heritage by launching the Sun on Sunday very soon.
                He adds:
                We're doing everything we can to assist those who are arrested. All suspensions are hereby lifted until or whether charged an they are welcome to return to work. Everyone is innocent until proven otherwise.
                And:
                We will obey the law. Illegal activity simply cannot and will not be tolerated at any of our publications.
                I am staying with you all in London for the next several weeks to give you my unwavering support.
                Full Email from Rupert Murdoch Now on Guardian Live Blog HERE 


                Sky News - 1:00 p.m. - Murdoch: Sun on Sunday Newspaper Coming Soon 

                Rupert Murdoch arrived in London last night ahead of a visit to Wapping. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
                 
                More links:

                Murdoch jets in to Sun crisis summit: Internal probe accuses staff of paying policemen £10,000-a-year 'retainers' (as mutinous reporters go to law over their human rights) 

                Sun Employs Paper Sellers Outside Wapping Headquarters - (image from @SophyRidgeSky )
                 Earlier News International chief executive Tom Mockridge arrived by foot and exchanged brief pleasantries with reporters but declining to comment on Murdoch's plans for the day.Staff are expecting Murdoch to tour the Sun offices at 2pm today and offer personal assurances of his commitment to the paper as proprietor.The air of anticipation here is tainted by the anger continuing to be felt over the decision of an internal investigations unit, the management and standards committee, to hand over the names of confidential sources of Sun journalists to the police."If all he does is say to staff that he is still committed to the Sun, it won't be enough. People are furious with the MSC. What they did was extraordinary and maybe illegal," said one journalist at News International this morning.
                Tom Mockridge - News International Chief Executive (image from Guardian)
                Full Text News Int CEO's Email to Staff After Sun Arrests - Guardian
                Interesting Article from 12 August 2011 - re Mockridge's Past History - Financial Review

                Saturday, 18th February:



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                      15 February 2012

                      Sun's Seen the Light!

                      Five years ago, The Sun stood shoulder to shoulder with David Cameron as he hacked away at what The Sun almost always dubs the 'hated Human Rights Act'.



                      The Sun has welcomed David Cameron's commitment to "tear up [the] crazy human rights laws".  Mr Cameron's intervention came after public fury at the news that nine Afghan airline hijackers would not be deported.  The news produced the classic Sun front page that tops this post.  Today's Sun declared:
                      "The whole concept of “human rights” in Britain has become a travesty under which the interests of killers, rapists and paedophiles are placed above those of their victims.  Law abiding citizens must walk in fear while “human rights” give their assailants the freedom of the streets.  Convicted thugs and murderers are set free too soon after derisory sentences.  Yet what is prison for, but to keep those who wish us harm locked away?  It is absurd for judges to shelter Afghan terrorists who hijack an aircraft at gunpoint.  It is scandalous that a dangerous rapist is freed from prison to kill because his human rights had been infringed."

                      In February 2011, the Human Rights Blog wrote of The Sun's continued, unwavering anti - Human Rights Act stance: 
                      Much has been made in the prisoner voting debate of the fact that out laws should not be made by, as The Sun puts it, “unelected dictators”. Similarly, the Daily Mail says “the time has come for Britain to tell unelected Strasbourg judges that they have overstepped their authority“, and the Daily Express poses a dilemma between “democratically elected Commons or an unelected and alien tribunal in Strasbourg“.
                      Just to set the record straight, unlike our own judges, judges  the European Court of Human Rights are elected.
                      According to Article 22 of the European Convention on Human Rights:
                      The judges shall be elected by the Parliamentary Assembly with respect to each High Contracting Party by a majority of votes cast from a list of three candidates nominated by the High Contracting
                      So the United Kingdom nominates its own candidate and has 18 seats on the Parliamentary Assembly which decides who is chosen. All  members of the assembly are MPs from domestic parliaments. So our own MPs vote on which judges to appoint. This is more power than they have to elect domestic judges.
                      And, again in stark contrast to our own jobs-for-life (well, until retirement) judges, after serving for a period of 9 years European judges cannot be reelected. Our own judge, Sir Nicholas Bratza, is due to be replaced in June 2012. The full procedure for electing judges, which is under review at the moment, can be found here.
                      It is a shame that none of the newspapers mentioned above spotted this inconvenient truth, and that the public have once again been misled about an important legal issue in order to fit with an editorial position.
                      On the 26th January this year, an article by Graeme Wilson appeared in the Sun entitled Court of Human Frights, full of vitriol and contemptuous railing at 'Europe's daft judges', describing David Cameron's speech on the European Court of Human Rights:

                      DAVID Cameron yesterday blasted European judges in Strasbourg for crazy rulings that could leave Britain open to terrorist outrages.


                      He launched a blistering attack on frightening decisions from the European Court of Human Rights — such as its BAN on Britain deporting hate preacher Abu Qatada.
                      The PM said it left the Government unable to "fulfil our duty to our law-abiding citizens to protect them".
                      In a keynote speech to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Mr Cameron bluntly accused the court of sabotaging the UK's war on terror.
                      He also unleashed a broadside at rulings on illegal migrants — saying the court acted like an "immigration tribunal" — and prisoners' rights.
                      Graeme Wilson then goes on to invoke the name of Winston Churchill to further highlight the depths to which the modern ECHR has sunk:
                      After the horrors of the Second World War, Churchill believed the court — and Europe's convention on human rights — were vital defences against fascism.
                      For decades, the Strasbourg court lived up to his vision by successfully defending fundamental freedoms. When the Berlin Wall fell, it was a bulwark for human rights in former communist countries.
                      But in recent years the institution has been accused of losing focus of those original, noble goals. Instead it has become a haven for terrorists, criminals and chancers and is being swamped by a tidal wave of cases.
                      But the final straw for The Sun, what effectively wedges the whole thing firmly up its disdainful nose, is:
                      Labour incorporated the European Convention into English law in 1998, with the introduction of the Human Rights Act. This has spawned a booming UK human rights industry, which is largely reliant on barmy cases. 
                      (A comprehensive list of articles from The Sun on what it considers the utter inadequacy of ECHR and the Human Rights Act can be found HERE) 

                      That's that, then. The whole Human Rights Act thing's a travesty, not fit for purpose. Useless....... until today, that is.

                      Today, The Sun, suddenly deprived of five of its journalists and anxious about the fact that informants' details had been revealed to the police ( read Trevor Kavanagh's account of what happened HERE ), has decided that perhaps the Human Rights Act may not be so hateworthy after all!

                      Under the headline:

                      Sun staff line up human rights challenge to News Corp inquiry team

                      The Guardian's Josh Halliday writes:
                        Sun staff are considering a legal challenge to News Corp's internal inquiry under the Human Rights Act. Photograph: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters
                        Senior journalists at the Sun are preparing to launch a legal challenge to the News Corporation Journalists at the News International red-top have approached the National Union of Journalists with a view to hiring the leading human rights lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson QC, to question the legality of parent company News Corp's management and standards committee. The NUJ has been contacted by more than a dozen journalists from the Sun with concerns about the protection of sources, it is understood.
                      Read the complete article HERE 
                      Sun journalists have taken advice from Geoffrey Robertson, who writes in the Times Sun Journalists Must Fight For Their Rights.

                      Should we expect to see a more conciliatory attitude towards the Human Rights Act issue in the future from The Sun?

                      After all, if this article very recently posted in the Telegraph is anything to go by, The Sun may have need of a great deal of support for some time to come.....


                      Update:
                      Very funny poem, commenting on The Sun's attempts to find support from the Court of Human Rights, from Channel 4's 10 0'Clock Live and Charlie Brooker:

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                      13 February 2012

                      Do as I Say, Not as I Do.... (with update 14/2/2012)

                      In defence of The Sun, Trevor Kavanagh, Associate Editor, wrote this article in today's paper: 

                      This Witch Hunt Has Put Us Behind Ex-Soviet States on Press Freedom - Trevor Kavanagh - the Sun

                      It is a piece positively dripping with righteous indignation that the police should have had the temerity to enter the homes of five of his journalists to arrest them and conduct searches:

                      Witch-hunt has put us behind
                      ex-Soviet states
                      on Press freedom

                      The Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh on
                      the biggest police operation
                      in British criminal history 

                      'They are subjects of the biggest police operation in British criminal history — bigger even than the Pan Am Lockerbie murder probe.
                      Major crime investigations are on hold as 171 police are drafted in to run three separate operations.
                      In one raid, two officers revealed they had been pulled off an elite 11-man anti-terror squad trying to protect the Olympics from a mass suicide attack.
                      Instead of being called in for questioning, 30 journalists have been needlessly dragged from their beds in dawn raids, arrested and held in police cells while their homes are ransacked.'

                      Anyone remotely familiar with the Sun's penchant for hyperbole and misplaced outrage will instantly recognise the style. Hurt, he is. Mr. Kavanagh is deeply hurt. He continues: 

                      'Wives and children have been humiliated as up to 20 officers at a time rip up floorboards and sift through intimate possessions, love letters and entirely private documents.'
                      That, Mr. Kavanagh, is the traditional modus operandi for the police when making surprise visits to premises where material may be found to substantiate documents they have already had provided to them - in this case by the Sun's parent company, News International. Mr. Kavanagh should be welll aware of these tactics - after all, whose paper has been known to arrive at premises about to be raided almost at the same moment as the Police?

                      From the Telegraph, 1st February 2012:

                      'Giving evidence in his defence on day eight of the trial, the Tottenham Hotspur manager said that the 6am police raid, in November 2007, was conducted while he was away.
                      He was actually returning from a match in Germany, and police at his house were accompanied by photographers from The Sun.
                      “It absolutely terrified my wife, who was there on her own. My wife was in a terrible state. They jammed the alarm on. She thought there was burglars and she was hysterical,” Redknapp said.
                      “Eventually she opened the gates and police came in with photographers alongside them. My wife thought I had been killed in a plane crash... there were pictures of my wife and house.”
                      Redknapp said he had never received an explanation why photographers were tipped off about the raid.

                      Seeking to persuade his readers of the enormous injustice done to his staff and to encourage the Sun's emotions of choice, rage and fury, Mr Kavanagh changes tack slightly to appeal to our more moral sensitivities (undoubtedly inculcated in us by the Sun over the years) thus:

                      'It is important that we do not jump to conclusions. 
                      Nobody has been charged with any offence, still less tried or convicted.'
                      That exhortation will have caused many a reader to choke on their morning tea or coffee. After all, this is this morning's Sun front page:

                      The Sun has decided, without the luxury of a copy of the post-mortem (not yet underway and some toxicology results not expected for weeks) that they can confidently pronounce cause of death - in a particularly judgemental way.

                      Mr. Kavanagh adds an interesting piece of data to his evidence of draconian treatment of his staff:
                      'Is it any surprise that Britain has dropped nine places to 28th, behind ex-Soviet bloc states Poland, Estonia and Slovakia, in the international Freedom of Speech league table?'
                      The table mentioned by Mr. Kavanagh can be found here in the Mail Online. Fascinating stuff! Britain 28th in a Reporters Without Borders (RWB) table of 179 countries...... What is extremely interesting is that of the 27 countries above Great Britain,

                      1. Finland and Norway
                      3. Estonia and the Netherlands
                      5. Austria
                      6. Iceland and Luxembourg
                      8. Switzerland
                      9. Cape Verde
                      10. Canada and Denmark
                      12. Sweden
                      13. New Zealand
                      14. Czech Republic
                      15. Ireland
                      16. Cyprus, Jamaica and Germany
                      19. Costa Rica
                      20. Belgium and Namibia
                      22. Japan and Surinam
                      24. Poland
                      25. Mali, OECS and Slovakia
                      28. United Kingdom

                      The Criteria used by the RWB to rank all countries are as follows:
                      • Reporters Without Borders considers the number of journalists murdered, expelled or harassed, and the existence of a state monopoly on TV and radio, as well as the existence of censorship and self-censorship in the media, and the overall independence of media as well as the difficulties that foreign reporters may face.
                      So, in all honesty, not a league table which backs up Mr. Kavanagh's gripe about the British press' being on the brink of losing its freedom! Pity really, it was a particularly clever attempt to pull the wool over his readers' eyes!

                      Also fascinating is the fact that none of the countries higher than Britain in the RWB's table have a single Murdoch - owned paper to call their own.....

                      As well as Penning the heart-rending article in today's Sun, Mr. Kavanagh has been flitting, heavy of heart no doubt, from studio to studio seeking ears to listen to his lament. Here's a recording of one such from BBC Radio 4's World at One: -

                      Trevor Kavanagh on police investigation into the Sun (mp3)

                      Update: Statement from the Metropolitan Police in reply to Mr. Kavanagh's article:

                      Monday, 13th February 2012
                      The linked Operations Weeting, Elveden and Tuleta are extremely difficult and complex with literally millions of pieces of documentation needing to be scrutinised and examined.
                      Given the seriousness of the allegations currently under investigation and the significant number of victims, the MPS does not believe that the level of resources devoted to the three inquiries is in any way disproportionate to the enormous task in hand.
                      There are 169 officers and staff currently deployed to the three linked investigations. Of these, 91 officers and staff are deployed to Operation Weeting; 61 to Operation Elveden; and 16 to Operation Tuleta with a Detective Chief Superintendent overseeing the three investigations. These resources are constantly reviewed and where they relate to corrupt payments to police officers the IPCC have oversight.
                      The majority have come from Specialist Crime; Territorial Policing and the Directorate of Professional Standards. At no stage has any major investigation been compromised as a result of these deployments.
                      Saturday's Operation Elveden arrests were as a result of information provided to officers by News Corporation's Management Standards Committee.
                      We would like to make it clear that no more than ten MPS officers attended each of the home addresses of the persons arrested as part of Operation Elveden on Saturday, 11 February. It should be noted that several officers are needed for the thorough and efficient search of an address, including, where appropriate, specialist search teams.

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