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TELEPHONE AND MOBILE PHONE HACKING

 

Anyone contemplating the interception of or placing of spyware or eavesdropping devices upon mobile or fixed telephones should think again and ask themselves this question, “Do I want to go to gaol?”

The below article is a perfect example of the consequences. In Australia we have many pieces of legislation, both Federal and State preventing interceptions or eavesdropping and they all carry gaol sentences.

BE WARNED

Like any industry or profession, the investigation industry has its cowboys and crooks. There are plenty who will tell you they can intercept phones or place tracking devices and spyware on them and charge you large sums of money for this service. In the main they just take the money and don’t give you what you wanted and because you have asked them to commit a criminal offence and because you are complicit in that act they will not refund your money and you will become a loser.

Many that advertise this service are international companies and in those countries it may or may not be legal. In any event if they bug an Australian phone or intercept an Australian phone/conversation or track the e-mails and MMS/SMS of the owner, they and you may be committing crimes.

Lyonswood Investigations and Forensic Group does not offer illegal services nor promote them.

In most cases the people who want this service don’t get what they want in any event. Mostly these requests arise out of suspected infidelity in a relationship. The only way to get this evidence is to have Lyonswood undertake lawful video surveillance. In 98% of cases we get the irrefutable evidence, not a bunch of text messages or salacious conversations that don’t give you the proof you want and need. Lawful evidence is evidence you can use and rely upon. Unlawful evidence has no value at all and may get you gaoled.

Parents' fury over claims News of the World investigators hacked into Milly's phone

By Chris Greenwood

Despicable': Investigators for the News of the World are accused of hacking Milly Dowler's voicemail

The parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler branded the News of the World 'despicable' last night over claims that it hired a private detective to hack into her mobile phone while police were searching for her.

Bob and Sally Dowler, whose phones were also allegedly hacked, attacked the Sunday newspaper after it was revealed that the 13-year-old was targeted within weeks of her disappearance.

Their solicitor, Mark Lewis, said the 'heinous' actions could have jeopardised the police inquiry as messages were deliberately deleted from Milly's phone to create space for new ones.

This meant her parents clung to 'false hope' that she was still alive because police wrongly thought she was erasing voicemails when, in fact, she was already dead.

At the time she vanished in March 2002, they had been sending desperate text messages and voicemails to her. They now fear those pleas were listened to by the hackers.

The alleged hacking took place when Rebekah Brooks, who now runs the British arm of News International, was editor of the News of the World.

Police believe that if Milly's abductor had been accessing the phone at the time of the hunt for her, those deleting the messages may have destroyed potential evidence.

It is alleged the hackers deleted the messages because Milly’s phone -an old model -had a limited memory, meaning no more voicemails could be left.

Controversy: Ex Sun editor Rebekah Wade (left) reportedly had her phone tapped by News Of The World journalists, too, while the paper's former boss, Andy Coulson (right), resigned earlier this year as David Cameron's Director of Communications as a result of the phone hacking scandal

Mr Lewis said her parents had already been through 'so much grief and trauma' before these 'further distressing revelations'.

Last month they revealed how traumatised they had been by the trial that led to the conviction of Levi Bellfield, 43, for Milly's murder. 

Mr and Mrs Dowler said they were in effect put on trial as their personal lives were torn apart in the witness box.

Grief-stricken: Bob and Sally Dowler with daughter Gemma, centre, speaking outside court after Bellfield's conviction.

Abuse: Bellfield is seen here with his former girlfriend Johanna Collings at Yateley Heath - where Milly's body was found years later

'It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time,' said Mr Lewis.

'The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardised the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable.'

The Dowler family were only told about the hacking in April - more than nine years after their daughter went missing.

Grief: Flowers are laid for schoolgirl Milly Dowler outside Heathside School, Weybridge, in September 2002 after her body was found

Her remains were found 25 miles away from her home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in September 2002.

A source close to the inquiry said officers were 'shell shocked' when they learnt about the hacking. 'This is devastating news for the family,' he said.

'When the trial finished they wanted to reclaim the memory of Milly for themselves. But this has thrown it open again.'

Grieving: Parents of Milly Dowler, Bob and Sally, make an appeal during the time of her disappearance in 2002

Police sources said they did not know what journalists hoped to achieve by the alleged hacking of Milly's phone. But it is possible they were after fresh leads in the search for her.

It also emerged yesterday that Colin Stagg, the man cleared of murdering Rachel Nickell, may have been hacked as early as 2000.

The latest revelations are likely to mark a turning point in Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's investigation into hacking at the News of the World, in which five people have been arrested.

Detectives found evidence of the Dowler hacking amid paperwork seized from the home of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed in January 2007, along with former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, for intercepting voicemail messages.

Scotland Yard was first alerted to phone hacking in 2005 when royal aides reported their suspicions to police.

After the conviction of Goodman and Mulcaire, concerns were raised that the initial inquiry was too limited.

In January Scotland Yard announced a new inquiry after detectives were handed 'significant new information' by News International.

News International has reportedly set aside a multi-million pound fund to settle compensation claims with victims. They include actress Sienna Miller, who was recently paid £100,000, and sports pundit Andy Gray, who received £20,000.

A spokesman for News International said: 'We have been co-operating fully with Operation Weeting since our voluntary disclosure in January restarted the investigation into illegal voicemail interception.

'This particular case is clearly a development of great concern and we will be conducting our own inquiries as a result. We will obviously co-operate fully with any police request on this should we be asked.'

Killer: Levi Bellfield, pictured in 2011 (left) and 2004 (right) was convicted of murdering Milly Dowler