By Chris Williams for The
Register.
This story has been reproduced with permission.
Eight people connected with the agency, which cannot be named
for legal reasons, variously admitted charges of conspiring to
intercept communications unlawfully, making unauthorised
modifications to a computer, false accounting, and criminal damage
to BT property.
Prosecutor Miranda Moore told Southwark Crown Court that
authorities were first made aware of the agency when it was
discovered that a serving police officer, who was on sick leave
citing depression, was effectively working as a full-time private
investigator, The BBC reports.
In 2003 BT alerted police it had identified intercepts of its
network after customers complained of unexpectedly high bills
throughout the UK. Moore said: "BT took the view if it was not the
work of one person then one team was responsible." Green roadside
junction boxes had been broken into and hundreds of private lines
were compromised.
The agency also hacked computer systems to order to access
private banking and medical information.
Detective Superintendent Nick Stevens of the Met's Anti
Corruption Command, said: "This was a lengthy, complex and
ultimately highly successful investigation by the Met’s Anti
Corruption Command working in partnership with BT and international
law enforcement agencies."
"This case has highlighted the concerns law enforcement agencies
have long held about the illegal activity undertaken by some
members of the private investigation community."
Michael Hall, 37, of Battersea (right), and Stuart Dowling, 31,
of Sittingbourne in Kent, who built some of the telephone hacking
equipment, were handed 12 and nine months imprisonment
respectively.
The customer roster at the agency included Sunday Times
Rich List alumnus Adrian Kirby, 48, of Haslemere in Sussex,
who made his multi-million pound fortune in the waste disposal
business.
He was jailed for six months by Judge Paul Dodson, who said:
"There's been a suggestion in interviews with police...that the
activities you were involved in was normal business practice and
therefore you should be punished in a way that acknowledges
that."
"Such conduct is an attack on the privacy of individuals and
commerce. It is not normal business practice. It is a criminal
intrusion upon the right to privacy, privacy guarded throughout our
society."
Kirby was also ordered to pay £2,173 compensation to BT and
prosecution costs of £6,500.
Anthony Waters, 67, of Mougins, France, paid the hackers to
break into his wife's laptop during an acrimonious divorce. He was
sentenced to four months imprisonment. His son Duncan Waters, 39,
was given a three month suspended sentence and Steven Farrington,
61, of Redhill in Surrey, a former director of Anthony Waters'
bathroom company, was given a community punishment order.
Two further clients were given three months and four months
imprisonment a piece for employing the agency's illegal
services.
© The Register
2007
