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Phone-hacking whistle-blower found dead

38 points by espeed 15y ago

electromagnetic 15y ago
You've just got to love when a key suspect and the initial whistle blower winds up dead and their death is "not considered suspicious". This might just be the naive opinion of a common man, but shouldn't it be mandatory that when anyone dies in a criminal investigation it must be considered suspicious until proven non-suspicious. I'm sorry, but this is a case where corruption in police and government officials isn't only clear, but it's visible from miles away. Yet it's being permitted that a whistle-blowers death is considered "not suspicious"
- espeed 15y ago
  Not only that, it looks like it's being flagged off the front page -- yeah it's gone from the main stream -- it only shows up under "new".
- pohl 15y ago
  I'm curious. Are the police who said it is not considered suspicious the same police force this chief resigned from? http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_PHONE_HACKING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-17-14-38-33 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_PHONE_HACK... The crisis has also triggered upheaval in the upper ranks of Britain's police. Monday's resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates - Scotland Yard's top anti-terrorist officer - followed that Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson. Both stepped down for links to an arrested former executive from Murdoch's shuttered News of the World tabloid.
  - electromagnetic 15y ago
    That's exactly my thoughts. Whomever said that it is "not considered suspicious" just instantly placed themselves under suspicion for corruption.
- idiopathic 15y ago
  I had thought the same thing until I read the comment from anigbrowl - police are not saying there is nothing to investigate, just that, in UK police jargon, there are no obvious signs of a homicide.
anigbrowl 15y ago
FYI, in Britain deaths are handled somewhat differently from in the US. For the police to say they do not suspect foul play means that there are no obvious signs of a murder. However, any questionable death (including a suicide) can become the subject of an 'inquest'; this is an inquiry conducted by a coroner who has wide-ranging legal powers to gather evidence or compel testimony, although not to prosecute. If an inquest finds that a death was in fact a homicide, then the coroner's findings are handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service, which operates similarly to an American prosecutor's office. In short, law enforcement officers do not have the say on whether a death is or is not a homicide; their remarks in this case only indicate a lack of certainty that is is. Hoare was known to have had a long struggle with substance abuse and it's entirely possible that he just drank himself to death...but there will be an inquest, possibly a public one given the circumstances.
unwiredben 15y ago
Am I the only person who read this headline and thought it was an article about John Draper, a.k.a. Cap'n Crunch?

38 points by espeed 15y ago

You've just got to love when a key suspect and the initial whistle blower winds up dead and their death is "not considered suspicious". This might just be the naive opinion of a common man, but shouldn't it be mandatory that when anyone dies in a criminal investigation it must be considered suspicious until proven non-suspicious. I'm sorry, but this is a case where corruption in police and government officials isn't only clear, but it's visible from miles away. Yet it's being permitted that a whistle-blowers death is considered "not suspicious"

espeed 15y ago
Not only that, it looks like it's being flagged off the front page -- yeah it's gone from the main stream -- it only shows up under "new".
pohl 15y ago
I'm curious. Are the police who said it is not considered suspicious the same police force this chief resigned from? http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_PHONE_HACKING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-17-14-38-33 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_PHONE_HACK... The crisis has also triggered upheaval in the upper ranks of Britain's police. Monday's resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates - Scotland Yard's top anti-terrorist officer - followed that Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson. Both stepped down for links to an arrested former executive from Murdoch's shuttered News of the World tabloid.
- electromagnetic 15y ago
  That's exactly my thoughts. Whomever said that it is "not considered suspicious" just instantly placed themselves under suspicion for corruption.
idiopathic 15y ago
I had thought the same thing until I read the comment from anigbrowl - police are not saying there is nothing to investigate, just that, in UK police jargon, there are no obvious signs of a homicide.

anigbrowl 15y ago

FYI, in Britain deaths are handled somewhat differently from in the US. For the police to say they do not suspect foul play means that there are no obvious signs of a murder. However, any questionable death (including a suicide) can become the subject of an 'inquest'; this is an inquiry conducted by a coroner who has wide-ranging legal powers to gather evidence or compel testimony, although not to prosecute. If an inquest finds that a death was in fact a homicide, then the coroner's findings are handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service, which operates similarly to an American prosecutor's office. In short, law enforcement officers do not have the say on whether a death is or is not a homicide; their remarks in this case only indicate a lack of certainty that is is. Hoare was known to have had a long struggle with substance abuse and it's entirely possible that he just drank himself to death...but there will be an inquest, possibly a public one given the circumstances.

unwiredben 15y ago

Am I the only person who read this headline and thought it was an article about John Draper, a.k.a. Cap'n Crunch?