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A private investigator convicted of illegally obtaining secret information has said the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday remained his “best customers” after his conviction, the high court has heard.
Steve Whittamore, who was convicted in 2005 and given a conditional discharge, said his activities for the publisher of the titles, Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), spanned from 1998 to 2007.
In a written submission to the court, Whittamore said he and his network of other private investigators provided criminal records and the names and addresses attached to phone numbers, “blagged” personal data collected by deception and obtained itemised phone bills.
“After my conviction, there were some titles who ceased to instruct me; however, some newspapers continued using my services despite this, and these included the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail,” he said. “They remained my best customers until April 2007, when the Daily Mail ceased using my services.
“As I had not been charged with any offences in relation to the telephone work I carried out, I continued to provide ex-directory numbers, mobile phone conversions, itemised phone billing enquiries and blags using the methods and some of the same subcontractors I had employed prior to March 2003.”
Seven claimants, including Prince Harry, are suing ANL over alleged unlawful information gathering. ANL denies all the claims.
Whittamore said he was in “no doubt that all journalists who used my services on a regular basis, or who worked in newsrooms who were regular users, knew that the information was obtained through illegal means such as blagging”.
“The journalists who used me, and the editors who sanctioned this, knew full well that I was a practitioner of the ‘dark arts’,” he said. “If the information the journalists requested could have been acquired legitimately, as opposed to through blagging or other checks, then the newspapers would have had no need to use my particular services.”
He said he obtained through a subcontractor details of the family of the actor Sadie Frost, one of the claimants in the case. He said the claimants’ team had shown him a “blag” relating to Frost in 2003.
In written submissions, ANL said it had publicly acknowledged at the Leveson inquiry into the practices of the press that it had used “inquiry agents” in the past, “and there had been instances of blagging by those inquiry agents (Mr Whittamore in particular)”.
Appearing in court, Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, said he banned the use of private investigators in 2007.
ANL said the claimants’ legal team was trying to link up invoices to private investigators with stories complained about in the trial without evidence, claiming the tactic amounted to “guesswork”.
Journalists named as having used Whittamore’s services said they did so for legitimate help finding addresses or phone numbers and “did not know or suspect Mr Whittamore was acting illegally”.
Dacre was challenged over the evidence he had given to the Leveson inquiry, where he said it was not clear “what the journalists asked for” from private investigators.
David Sherborne, the lead barrister for the claimants, showed Dacre a series of invoices. He suggested it was clear they were for finding details such as criminal record checks and vehicle registrations.
Dacre said he did not deal with invoices and that he could not comment without knowing their context, the story they related to and the information gathered. He stood by his Leveson testimony.
During the trial there have been rising tensions between Sherborne and the judge, Mr Justice Nicklin. The judge has warned Sherborne to stick to evidence related to the seven claimants rather than attempt to use the trial as a public inquiry into alleged unlawful activity at ANL.
The trial continues.
