The phone-hacking scandal has swept across the media, ending the News of the World’s 168-year-old run and derailing Rupert Murdoch’s bid to take over BSkyB.
But so far, the other group embroiled in the scandal has managed to keep largely out of the spotlight – not least because keeping in the shadows is their bread and butter.
In almost all of the accusations of phone hacking and “blagging” which have surrounded newspapers in Rupert Murdoch’s News International stable, a private investigator has worked hand in hand with the journalist.
This should not have come as a surprise. A report from the Information Commissioner’s Office in 2006 detailed an “extensive illegal trade in confidential personal information” of people of all walks of life, from celebrities to one man who painted the house of a lottery winner.
Six months later, an update entitled What Price Privacy Now? said there had been some progress – but not enough.
James Bond it isn’t.
Private investigator Neil Sheppard
It said: “Investigations by the ICO and the police have uncovered evidence of a widespread and organised undercover market in confidential personal information… Among the ultimate ‘buyers’ are many journalists looking for a story… The ‘suppliers’ almost invariably work within the private investigation industry.”
Journalists who engage in these practices are beginning to be exposed, amid calls for more regulation – but what about the investigators? Today in Parliament Labour MP Chris Bryant said it was a “shocking” fact that there was no regulation of the private investigation industry, and called for an inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal to address this.
But who are the private investigators behind the stories, and how do they work? And could these shadowy figures be hacking a phone near you? Channel 4 News hears about the tricks of the trade from one private investigator.
