Friday 11 March 2011

criminal justice system was "not fit for purpose".

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said the outcome of the long-running investigation was "wholly regrettable" after family members angrily said the criminal justice system was "not fit for purpose".
He said: "This current investigation has identified, ever more clearly, how the initial inquiry failed the family and wider public. It is quite apparent that police corruption was a debilitating factor in that investigation."
The detective said corruption during the initial inquiry was "wholly unacceptable".
"Within this formidable and complex murder inquiry, it is deeply regrettable that it has not proved possible to guarantee to the court that all the relevant material has been presented to ensure a fair trial," Det Chief Supt Campbell said.
"On behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service I sincerely apologise to Daniel Morgan's family and it is with considerable regret that a trial cannot proceed.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Terence Brown, 47, compiled CDs with instructions on how to make electronic detonators, homemade poisons, and tips on assassination missions.

Terence Brown, 47, compiled CDs with instructions on how to make electronic detonators, homemade poisons, and tips on assassination missions.
The discs included tens of thousands of pages of information with topics including “how to make a letter bomb” and “how to enter countries illegally.”
One section had a instruction on how to make a thermite bomb with the introduction: "Thermite is nasty s**t."
The discs used the title of the Anarchist Cookbook, originally published in America in the 1970s, but Brown collated extra content, put it onto CDs and marketed it on a website, Winchester Crown Court heard.
He set up a website called http://www.anarchist-cookbook.com, which has since been shut down, where buyers could send cash or use a credit card to pay for the discs.
The CDs claimed they were "for educational use only” and a statement added: “Do not attempt any activities contained in these CD-Roms. Many are illegal and dangerous."
Under the terms and conditions, the website said that anyone who was a member of a terrorist organisation should not order the discs.
But Brown made no checks on who was buying the discs, accepted cash and would destroy the order to safeguard buyers' anonymity, the court was told.
He claimed he was only interested in making money, that the information was freely available on the internet and that he had no sympathy with terrorists.
But he sold several thousand of the CD-Roms across the world in yearly editions between 2003 and 2008 for $35 (£24) each, later producing a double-CD limited edition set.
Parmjit Cheema, prosecuting, told the jury that Brown made money by producing and selling computer discs from his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire that went all over the world.
She added: “The discs he painstakingly produced and sold contained a vast collection of material downloaded from the internet, of which substantial parts could be of practical use to anyone planning or committing a terrorist attack."
Miss Cheema said that the discs were being sold against the background of the September 11 attacks of 2001, the Bali bombings in 2002, the Madrid train bombs in 2004 and the July 7 bombings in 2005.
"He was putting out his product in that environment for anyone to buy," the barrister said.
Brown was convicted of seven counts of collecting information that could have been used to prepare or commit acts of terrorism, two counts of selling and distributing the information and a further count under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He closed his eyes as the first guilty verdict was delivered by the foreman after less than four hours of deliberations.
The court heard that Brown had previously served a jail term for counterfeiting software.