Leveson inquiry: Ian Hurst says police involved in 'News of World cover-up'
Former British army intelligence officer whose computer was allegedy hacked says Scotland Yard 'has let society down'
A former British army intelligence officer whose computer was allegedy hacked by the News of the World has claimed at the Leveson inquiry that the police were involved in covering up journalistic abuses.
Ian Hurst urged Lord Justice Leveson on Monday to ask the Metropolitan police to provide him with "all intelligence of police of corruption including that at very highest level".
Hurst added that Scotland Yard "has let society down. They should be making a full disclosure".
"That is exactly what you are dealing with here ladies and gentlemen corruption," he told the inquiry.
Hurst also told the hearing at London's high court he learned this year that the News of the World installed a Trojan programme on his family computer in 2006 that allowed it to access his messages and other documents.
He served in covert Army units in Northern Ireland between 1980 and 1991 specialising in recruiting and developing agents within paramilitary organisations, the press standards inquiry heard.
Hurst featured in a BBC Panorama programme broadcast in March this year which alleged that a fax containing extracts of his emails was sent to the Dublin office of the News of the World in July 2006.
He said in a statement to the inquiry that the News of the World may have been trying to obtain information about the British intelligence agent within the IRA known as Stakeknife.
Panorama's journalists told the former intelligence officer that the now-defunct Sunday tabloid hired a private investigator to target him, who in turn commissioned a specialist hacker referred to only as Mr X to access his computer.
Hurst knew Mr X as someone who had served in the intelligence community in Northern Ireland and arranged to meet him to question him about these claims, the inquiry heard.
"He more or less charted the events from the middle! of June 2006, he states for a three-month period, and all the documents he could access via the back door Trojan emails, the hard drive, social media," he said.
"He did not say this but the Trojan that we have identified would have allowed the webcam, so he could have actually seen me or my kids at the desk."
Mr X said he infected the computer by sending an email from a bogus address and tricking Hurst into opening the attachment, the inquiry heard.
But the former intelligence officer said he believed the virus actually came from a "trusted media contact from a well-known newspaper".
"The type of Trojan which is deployed by newspapers or private detectives isn't that sophisticated, and you have to open an attachment," he said.
"The ones which would be used by governmental agencies would be, for instance, with a microdot, a full stop, so you wouldn't need to open the attachment."
He told the inquiry that when police arrested Mr X in April 2009 they found the hacker had obtained his wife's CV, pin number and documents connected to their telephone number and address.
Jane Winter, director of human rights charity British Irish Rights Watch, told the Leveson inquiry on Monday that Hurst contacted her in July to tell her that emails she sent to him had been illegally accessed.
"From the point of view of my organisation, we really rely on trust and confidentiality and we deal with people from all sides of a very difficult situation in Northern Ireland," Winter said.
"When I first heard that these documents had been compromised, my first thought was if all the people we help hear about this, they will lose confidence in us through no fault of our own and that is a very chilling thought.
"It is a real issue that this could dent our reputation for confidentiality."
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