rigorousintuition.ca

<br><br>Eighteen men have been charged with a range of offences after a long-running telecoms snooping investigation. <br><br><br>A probe into alleged phone tapping by a London private detective agency sparked the police operation, across the city, south England, Lincolnshire and France. <br><br>The men will appear in court next month on charges ranging from accessing NHS files for blackmail to intercepting phone calls. <br><br>Others are accused of hoarding telecoms equipment owned by firms BT and NTL. <br><br>Probe widened <br><br>The charges also involve alleged modifying of computer material, falsifying invoices and conducting surveillance on law enforcement agencies and witnesses. <br><br>The charges follow a Metropolitan Police probe into a private detective agency concerning alleged phone interception for clients. <br><br>The defendants, who are aged between 30 and 68, come from several areas including Northants, Kent, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex, London and France. <br><br>One man is alleged to have collected BT overalls and a reflective jacket complete with tools, wires, a folding stool and barriers. <br><br>The collection is also said to have contained a shirt from rival NTL. <br><br>Six men were initially arrested in September 2004 but the probe was widened with help from BT. <br><br>Over the past four days a total of 18 men were charged. All were bailed to appear at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, in London, on 23 Feb<br> <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4656780.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4656780.stm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

The Sunday Times January 29, 2006 <br><br><br>Millionaire on hacking charge<br>Sophie Kirkham<br> <br> <br> <br>MATTHEW MELLON, heir to a £6.6 billion banking and oil fortune, will appear in court next month in connection with an investigation into an alleged phone-tapping and computer hacking gang. <br><br>The former husband of Tamara Mellon, who runs the Jimmy Choo shoe empire, will appear alongside 17 other defendants accused of involvement in the operation, which allegedly provided clients with confidential information about wealthy people and businesses. <br> <br>Following a tip-off from BT, Scotland Yard has conducted a long investigation into a private detective agency run by a former policeman which it believed was bugging phone calls. <br><br>It is now alleged the group was also hacking into NHS computers to access confidential medical files to blackmail people, spying on police and bugging their phone calls to get information. There are also several charges of falsifying invoices. <br><br>One of the group is said to have taken BT overalls, a reflective jacket and tools, along with a BT works barrier and stool, and a shirt from NTL, another other telecoms company. <br><br>A regular on the London social scene and close friends with Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant, Mellon, 41, inherited a £14m trust fund at the age of 21. He now has a fortune put by The Sunday Times Rich List at £50m. His family is held in the same regard in America as the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Astors. <br><br>He met Tamara Yeardye in 1998. The couple’s marriage in 2000 at Blenheim Palace took up eight pages in American Vogue and the bride wore a Valentino wedding dress encrusted with diamonds. More than half the guests were said to be wearing Jimmy Choos. <br><br>The Mellons spent several years as a golden couple of London society often appearing in magazine pages and at charity functions. In 2002 they had a daughter, Araminta. But the marriage fell apart amid revelations of Mellon’s cocaine habit, which he is said to have battled in the 1990s, and the couple went through an acrimonious divorce last year. <br><br>After the marriage ended Tamara, who is now worth £60m in her own right, began seeing Oscar Humphries, the son of Barry, creator of Dame Edna Everage. Mellon has recently said he was planning a change in career from working as chief designer for Harry’s, an upmarket men’s shoe company he launched five years ago — he has tried his hand at film producing in the past. <br><br>He remains a colourful figure on the social scene — his hobbies are said to include nude jet skiing — and he has had a string of celebrity girlfriends since his marriage break-up. He is currently seeing Noelle Reno, a 24-year-old actress. <br><br>Mellon, who lives in Belgravia, London, is charged with conspiracy to cause unauthorised modification of computer material. <br><br>Also in the dock at Bow Street magistrates’ court in February will be another wealthy businessman, Adrian Kirby, who made his money from waste disposal units. Kirby, 47, of Haslemere, Surrey, has a fortune put at £65m by the Rich List. <br><br>He is charged with conspiracy to intercept communications unlawfully, unauthorised modification of computer material and perverting the course of justice. <br><br>Former Essex police officer Scott Gelsthorpe, 31, of Kettering, Northamptonshire, is facing 15 charges. <br><br>The suspects, 17 men and one woman, come from southern England, Lincolnshire and France and are said to have committed the offences between July and September 2004. They will appear before magistrates on February 23. <br><br> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2015469,00.html">www.timesonline.co.uk/new...69,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br><br>MELLON is Paul Mellon's son. See<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/mellon/legacy.html">www.lib.virginia.edu/smal...egacy.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>for obit.<br><br>And Mellon was former business partner and horse racing partner of Bush1 and 2's blind trust bagman, WILLIAM STAMPS FARISH III, who left his job as US ambassador to the UK in June 2004. Tail between his legs. No explanation of why he was suddenly booted out. Persona non grata.<br><br>THIS Mellon story is still unfolding in the UK.<br><br>Expect a whole lot mure stuff to emerge.<br> <br> <p></p><i></i>