Operation Tuleta
Operation Tuleta is a Metropolitan Police investigation begun in June 2011 to consider potential prosecutions for matters such as computer hacking which fell outside the terms of the phone hacking investigation, Operation Weeting.[1]
The operation was expanded into a full inquiry on 29 July 2011.[2]
After the Times hacking of the police blogger 'Nightjack' was exposed at the Leveson Inquiry in February 2012, Operation Tuleta began investigating the episode.[3]
Businessman Steve Hayes, founder of Loans.co.uk, was reportedly arrested in February 2012.[4]
In the spring of 2012, the operation began to investigate the downloading of data from stolen mobile phones. They arrested three Sun journalists, including chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and reporter Rhodri Philips.[5]
By July 2012, Tuleta was examining 101 separate allegations of data intrustion. More than 50 electronic devices being examined included the computers of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former cabinet minister Peter Hain and Derek Draper.[6]
In September 2012, the Independent reported that Operation Tuleta had evidence linking the News of the World to a burglary in Ascot, Berkshire.[7]
Alex Marunchak and Jonathan Rees were arrested on 2 October 2012 on on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and Sections 1 and 2 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. They were subsequently released on bail.[8]
The Times reported in July 2013 that the Metropolitan Police was trying to block publication of a list of 101 companies that had used 'rogue' private investigators. The paper stated:
- While the Met says Operation Tuleta will “go where the evidence takes it”, the inquiry is being carried out with fewer resources than the linked Weeting and Elveden inquiries, focusing on the newspaper industry.
- The investigation, which has not yet led to any charges, has only 15 officers and staff compared with a total of 159 on the other two inquiries.[4]
External resources
- SOCA engagement with Operation TULETA, Serious Organised Crime Agency, 12 July 2013.
Notes
- ↑ Tom Watson & Martin Hickman, Dial M for Murdoch, News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain, Penguin Books, 2012, p.165.
- ↑ Tom Watson & Martin Hickman, Dial M for Murdoch, News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain, Penguin Books, 2012, p.229.
- ↑ Tom Watson & Martin Hickman, Dial M for Murdoch, News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain, Penguin Books, 2012, p.258.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sean O'Neill, Met tries to block naming of rogue detectives’ clients, the Times, 26 July 2013.
- ↑ Tom Watson & Martin Hickman, Dial M for Murdoch, News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain, Penguin Books, 2012, p.263.
- ↑ Tom Watson & Martin Hickman, Dial M for Murdoch, News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain, Penguin Books, 2012, pp.263-264.
- ↑ Martin Hickman, Exclusive: News of the World 'ordered burglary', The Independent, 18 September 2012.
- ↑ Pair named as 'Alex Marunchak and Jonathan Rees' bailed after hacking arrests, Press Gazette, 3 October 2012.
