Claims Crown’s lawyers failed to disclose evidence in several cases, including the Mark Kennedy environmental activism affair The Crown Prosecution Service faces a crisis following the abandonment of a series of trials after allegations of serious wrongdoing were made against its staff. Senior officials at the CPS stand accused of repeatedly failing to meet their legal obligation to disclose crucial evidence and ensure fair trials. Sir Christopher Rose, a former appeal court judge, has been appointed to lead an inquiry into claims the CPS suppressed evidence relating to the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy. His inquiry will test whether prosecutors in the Kennedy case met the fundamental obligation of disclosure, to give lawyers for the accused any evidence that could assist their defence. The Guardian can reveal that the same CPS lawyer in the east Midlands allegedly implicated in the Kennedy case has been accused of non-disclosure in two other trials. The cases – one concerning fraud, the other drugs – were abandoned in recent months after prosecutors were alleged to have withheld evidence. The development threatens to widen the controversy stemming from the Kennedy affair, which until now has focused on prosecutions of environmental campaigners. On Tuesday, 20 activists convicted of planning to break into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station will challenge the guilty verdicts at the court of appeal. If successful, their case will be considered a shocking miscarriage of justice. Failure to disclose surveillance tapes led in January to the abandonment of a trial of six other activists, who were accused of conspiring to break into the same power station. The Ratcliffe case and the fraud and drugs trials involved the same senior CPS lawyer, Ian Cunningham. His name first came to light on 6 January, when the fraud trial at Nottingham crown court collapsed after it emerged that three defendants – Mark Taylor, Robert Sankey and Neil Lievesley – had been wrongly accused of fraud by a business partner. The three businessmen were connected to Aussie Mole, a company making pneumatic hammers for laying pipes and cables. The CPS told the judge it had dropped the case, after it realised evidence in its possession suggested the men’s business partner – the key witness – was not, as the judge put it, “a witness of truth”. Judge Andrew Hamilton demanded to know why the prosecution, costing up to £20,000 in public funds, had been mounted. “This is entirely wasted money,” he said. “Who has been responsible for wasting this money?” He added: “These three men have been in fear of being locked up. They’ve no doubt spent a pretty rotten year or more worrying about what’s going to happen to them and it’s all for no purpose.” Demanding a written explanation, the judge said he wanted to know why Cunningham had initially withheld the crucial evidence – a statement from a principal witness in the case – from defence lawyers. “It’s indefensible … this is not a police constable who doesn’t know what’s what. Mr Cunningham is a senior crown prosecuting solicitor. I just cannot fathom how he could have made such a decision.” On Monday, a CPS statement confirmed that an explanatory letter was sent to the judge on 16 February. The CPS said a key witness statement had been originally marked as being not for disclosure to the defendants. It was given to them seven months before the case was dropped, the CPS added. “Disclosure was carried out, albeit late, and a full explanation was given to the judge, which he has raised no further questions on,” the statement said. “While it is clear some aspects of the case could have been handled better, this case was not dropped due to the disclosure issues.” But the case raises serious concerns. Every criminal investigation generates masses of documents. Police and the CPS select those documents which they believe will help secure a conviction. It is a cornerstone of the justice system that prosecutors must also disclose to the lawyers working for the defendants any relevant document that would help their defence. The fraud allegations were first made against the three in 2007, but CPS officials in Derbyshire decided not to prosecute. The file was later passed to the complex case unit of the CPS, which deals with “particularly sensitive and high profile” cases. Cunningham decided to revive the prosecution as he believed the witness was credible. It was Cunningham’s name that was at the centre of controversy that erupted four days later in the same Nottinghamshire courthouse. The Kennedy case hit the headlines on 10 January , when the CPS announced it would abandon its prosecution of six climate change campaigners accused of planning to break into the Nottinghamshire power station. Prosecutors acted after it emerged that a transcript of Kennedy’s surveillance of the activists had not been disclosed to the defence. It was not until last month that the Guardian revealed police allegations that Cunningham had withheld the material from defence lawyers, leading the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, to announce an independent inquiry . That development had a domino effect on the third abandoned trial in which the CPS has been accused of suppressing evidence. Details of that trial cannot be reported for legal reasons, but it involved accusations of conspiring to supply drugs. Before the prosecution opened its case, defence lawyers lodged an “abuse of process” application, calling for the charges to be cast aside. The complaints involved concerns that the defendants would not get a fair trial because police and prosecutors, including Cunningham, had failed to disclose important evidence. Defence lawyers wanted to know why Cunningham, one of two CPS officials running the prosecution, had decided not to disclose the evidence – questioning whether he had been misled, behaved dishonestly or simply not looked at the documents. The dispute resulted in Cunningham having to attend court where, under cross-examination, he told a judge he had not handed material to the defence because he wanted to give himself more time to consider the question. In his ruling, the judge found there were some failings in the disclosure process, but he rejected the application – essentially ruling in favour of Cunningham and the police. That decision was overtaken when lawyers for the defendants arrived in court with copies of the Guardian, which contained details of allegations against Cunningham in the Kennedy case. The judge first adjourned the hearing while he read the articles and then cancelled the trial. A new jury will be sworn in, after the Rose inquiry has determined whether Cunningham was at fault in the Kennedy case. A CPS spokesman said: “There have been no findings against Ian Cunningham at this stage. We await the outcome of the independent inquiry into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar case.” Mark Kennedy Activism UK criminal justice Keir Starmer Police Surveillance Rob Evans Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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Death of Sean Hoare – who was first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson knew of hacking – not being treated as suspicious Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned. Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home. Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but the force said in a statement: “At 10.40am today [Monday 18 July] police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after. “The death is currently being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious. Police investigations into this incident are ongoing.” Hoare first made his claims in a New York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World. He told the newspaper that not only did Coulson know of the phone hacking, but that he actively encouraged his staff to intercept the phone calls of celebrities in the pursuit of exclusives. In a subsequent interview with the BBC he alleged that he was personally asked by his then-editor, Coulson, to tap into phones. In an interview with the PM programme he said Coulson’s insistence that he didn’t know about the practice was “a lie, it is simply a lie”. At the time a Downing Street spokeswoman said Coulson totally and utterly denied the allegations and said he had “never condoned the use of phone hacking and nor do I have any recollection of incidences where phone hacking took place”. Sean Hoare, a one-time close friend of Coulson’s, told the New York Times the two men first worked together at the Sun, where, Hoare said, he played tape recordings of hacked messages for Coulson. At the News of the World, Hoare said he continued to inform Coulson of his activities. Coulson “actively encouraged me to do it”, Hoare said. In September last year, he was interviewed under caution by police over his claims that the former Tory communications chief asked him to hack into phones when he was editor of the paper, but declined to make any comment. Hoare returned to the spotlight last week, after he told the New York Times that reporters at the News of the World were able to use police technology to locate people using their mobile phone signals in exchange for payments to police officers. He said journalists were able to use a technique called “pinging” which measured the distance between mobile handsets and a number of phone masts to pinpoint its location. Hoare gave further details about the use of “pinging” to the Guardian last week. He described how reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: “Within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say ‘right that’s where they are.’” He said: “You’d just go to the news desk and they’d just come back to you. You don’t ask any questions. You’d consider it a job done. The chain of command is one of absolute discipline and that’s why I never bought into it, like with Andy saying he wasn’t aware of it and all that. That’s bollocks.” He said he would stand by everything he had told the New York Times about “pinging”. “I don’t know how often it happened. That would be wrong of me. But if I had access as a humble reporter … ” He admitted he had had problems with drink and drugs and had been in rehab. “But that’s irrelevant,” he said. “There’s more to come. This is not going to go away.” Hoare named a private investigator who he said had links with the News of the World, adding: “He may want to talk now because I think what you’ll find now is a lot of people are going to want to cover their arse.” Speaking to another Guardian journalist last week, Hoare repeatedly expressed the hope that the hacking scandal would lead to journalism in general being cleaned up and said he had decided to blow the whistle on the activities of some of his former News of the World colleagues with that aim in mind. He also said he had been injured the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a children’s party. He said he had broken his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a heavy pole from the marquee. Hoare also emphasised that he was not making any money from telling his story. Hoare, who has been treated for drug and alcohol problems, reminisced about partying with former pop stars and said he missed the days when he was able to go out on the town. Phone hacking News of the World Andy Coulson News International Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Amelia Hill James Robinson Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
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NASA’s orbiting astronauts detached a huge storage bin full of trash from the International Space Station on Monday and loaded it aboard Atlantis for the last shuttle ride back to Earth. (July 18)
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General David Petraeus handed over command of US and coalition forces in Afghanistan to General John Allen at a ceremony in Kabul Monday. (July 18)
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enlarge Credit: Blue Gal Whose idea was it to hold a GOP Candidate ” Tea Party Twitter Debate ” with questions from you, the Tweeters ? They sure have a lot of Chootzpah . A number of journalists are going to have a hard time following Rick Perry’s answers, since he’s blocked them. The questions, sent to @140townhall will appear at the debate’s website with the candidates appearing on Wednesday July 20 at 3 pm Eastern.
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Stephanie Seymour can’t win ‘em all. After calling off her divorce from paper magnate and polo-playing husband Peter Brant thanks, in part, to an Indian blanket, the supermodel is (or was?) supposedly on the rocks with another Peter Brant — Peter Brant, Jr., the couple’s 18-year-old son. Page Six reports that Seymour had to phone the police after the pair had an argument: Lt. Richard Cochran said that when police responded, they were told the mother and son had argued because “the son was going to visit with the mom, and the mom canceled.” Cochran said: “It was all civil in nature.” Seymour and her lawyer refused to comment for the gossip column. Peter, Jr. if you remember, was caught getting close to his mom on the beach in St. Barths at the beginning of the year and the photographs prompted him to send the following defense to Gawker: I would just like to say that these pictures have been taken completely out of context, my mother and i are very close as she is with all her children. she often hugs and kisses me and my siblings in an manner that is intimate, any mother in the world does the same. that day on the beach we walked around with each other completely aware of the presence of photographers there. We have nothing to hide. Not even from Page Six. Read more at NYPost.com. Watch: if(typeof AOLVP_cfg===’undefined’)AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:’AOLVP_777535060001′,’codever’:0.1, ‘autoload’:true, ‘autoplay’:false, ‘playerid’:’61371448001′, ‘videoid’:’777535060001′, ‘width’:575, ‘height’:323, ‘stillurl’:’http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/ams/c99c0ff7abe2f/poster.jpg’, ‘playertype’:’inline’,’videotitle’:’Stephanie Seymour responds to critics of her ‘inappropriate’ photos with her son – TVR CLIP – 02/04/11′,’videodesc’:’undefined’,’videolink’:’#’});
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This is a big week for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Today, the President will announce his intent to nominate Richard Cordray to serve as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. On Thursday, the CFPB makes its transition from a start-up to a real, live agency with the authority to write rules and to supervise the activities of America’s largest banks. Rich will be a strong leader for this agency. He has a proven track record of fighting for families during his time as head of the CFPB enforcement division, as Attorney General of Ohio, and throughout his career. He was one of the first senior executives I recruited for the agency, and his hard work and deep commitment make it clear he can make many important contributions in leading it. Rich is smart, he is tough, and he will make a stellar Director. I am very pleased for him and very pleased for the CFPB. The DNA of the new consumer agency is well established. Our mission is clear: No one should be tricked in any financial transaction. Prices and risks should be clear. People should be able to make apples-to-apples comparisons. Fine print should be mowed down, not used to hide nasty surprises. And, everyone — even trillion dollar banks — should follow the law. We’re underway. We are working through a much-simplified mortgage disclosure form. We are designing a new consumer complaint process, with the first piece coming on line this week. We have set up a strong Office of Servicemember Affairs that reaches out to military families and is already working on problems they face. And, on Thursday, we will have cops on the beat — making our first contacts with the 111 largest financial institutions in the country so we can monitor their compliance with the law. We have hired the people and built the systems to make all this work. And, to cap it all off, we got a strong evaluation from the Inspector General last Friday about our efficient and drama-free set up period. There’s lots of good news, but make no mistake: this agency still has enemies in Washington, D.C. And they have a plan. In May, forty-four Republican Senators wrote a letter saying that they will block anyone from serving as CFPB Director. Many of them don’t like the agency or the ideas that led to its creation. They lost that fight last summer in a straight-up vote, but they say they will use a filibuster over a Director nomination to undercut the agency. Without a Director, however, the agency’s authority over payday lenders, debt collectors and other non-bank financial companies can be challenged. The Republicans say that they will permit a Director only if the agency is amended to make it less independent and less likely to act. I remain hopeful that those who want to cripple this consumer bureau will think again and remember that the financial crisis — and the recession and job losses that it sparked — began one lousy mortgage at a time. I also hope that when those Senators next go home, they ask their constituents how they feel about fine print, about signing contracts with terms that are incomprehensible, and about learning the true costs of a financial transaction only later when fees are piled on or interest rates are reset. I hope they will ask the people in their districts if they are opposed to an agency that is working to make prices clear or if they think budgets should be cut for an agency that is trying to make sure that trillion-dollar banks follow the law. I hope they will ask their constituents if they are opposed to the confirmation of someone who saved $2 billion for retirees, investors, and business owners as Ohio Attorney General and who has worked hard on the front lines fighting against fraudulent foreclosures and abusive lending practices. This week is the culmination of two years of hard battles. The President put the consumer agency in his first outline of financial regulatory reform, and he never wavered in his support for it. The agency was declared dead several times, and weak versions and lousy bargains were offered again and again, but he stood fast. When he signed Dodd-Frank into law, creating the new agency, he offered me the chance to stand it up — something for which I will always be grateful. The fights continued, and again, the President never wavered in his support. In fact, just last week he issued a veto threat if the Republicans try to move the agency’s funding to the political process, and I know that in the future he won’t allow opponents of reform to succeed in weakening the CFPB. The agency has stepped out in the right direction. The work is good. But this agency needs to have its full powers right now, and that means we need Rich in place as Director. Today, I’m celebrating — but I’m not taking my eye off those who want to cripple this agency. We got this agency by fighting, we stood it up by fighting, and, if takes more fighting to keep it strong and independent, then we can do it.
Continue reading …Maddow Dishonestly Claims Texas Voter ID Law Exempts Residents with Concealed Handgun License
July 18, 2011 No Comment
Never trust a source as cited by Rachel Maddow. It's not the sources themselves that are deceitful, at least much of the time. It's what she does with the information they provide that is. On her MSNBC show Friday night, for example, Maddow was riding one of her favorite hobby horses, alleging that new voter ID laws enacted or proposed in 40 states are little more than GOP-led efforts to suppress voter turnout among core Democrat constituencies. To bolster her argument, Maddow said this about a new voter ID law in Texas (video after page break) — Occasionally Republicans tip their hand on this, as they have done in Texas, when Texas Republicans were cranking down voting rights, making it harder to vote in that state than it has ever been before, Texas Republicans carved out an exception to their new you-have-to-show-an-ID-to-vote-now rule. The exception is? (pause for dramatic effect) For anybody who has a concealed carry permit for a weapon. (Stated as story from Texas Observer shown, on new voter ID law, with words “concealed handgun license” broken out from story and prominently displayed). What do you think it is about having a gun that makes the Republican legislators of Texas relax about your eligibility to vote? What is it about the leftist shills at MSNBC that causes them to relax when it comes to journalism standards? Anyone checking the source cited by Maddow will see that Texas Republicans carved out no such “exception.” Here's how the relevant passage in the Observer story reads — The legislation requires voters to present one of five acceptable forms of photo ID — a driver's license, military ID, passport, concealed handgun license or a special voter ID card provided free of charge by the state. Possessing a concealed handgun license doesn't exempt anyone from the new voter ID law — it allows a person holding such a license to comply with the law.
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Still trying to scratch that itch left by the slow fade out of the Casey Anthony drama? Well, good news kiddies, CNN is pointing its 24-hour news hose straight at your face over a little thing we like to call the internet. The OG cable news network is finally returning to the streaming fray (die-hard Blitz-heads may remember a little service called CNN Pipeline) and offering live feeds of CNN and HLN, online and through its iOS apps. Unfortunately, just like HBO Go , you’ll need to have a pay TV subscription through AT&T, Comcast, Cox, DISH Network, Suddenlink or Verizon to access the streams. For the moment Android users are left out in the cold but, that’s ok, fans of dessert-themed OS names can pull in Al Jazeera English free of charge. Continue reading CNN starts streaming 24 hours of ‘news’ online and on your iPhone CNN starts streaming 24 hours of ‘news’ online and on your iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …With the Chinese Catholic Patriot Association continuing to appoint bishops without Rome’s approval, relations between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party have plunged to their lowest point in years, threatening to become an all-out spiritual war, reports the Telegraph . “At the moment, it’s a war,” says Hong Kong-based Cardinal…
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