Bugging officer 'pressured'
Police officer involved in bugging of MP says he was put under "signific.ant pressure" by Metropolitan police
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Tuesday, 05, Feb 2008 08:25
A police officer involved in the bugging of an MP has said he was put under "significant pressure" by the Metropolitan police.
Mark Kearney, a former Thames Valley police officer, has said he had been following orders in carrying out surveillance work on Muslim Labour MP Sadiq Khan and had not felt the action was justified.
It is alleged that Mr Khan, MP for Tooting, south London, was recorded while visiting Babar Ahmad, a member of his constituency in prison.
A childhood friend of Mr Khan's, Mr Ahmad is being held in detention awaiting deportation to the US on suspicion of running web sites connected to the Taliban and Chechen terrorists.
If the recordings did indeed take place they would constitute a breach of the doctrine introduced by prime minister Harold Wilson which prohibits the security services from using surveillance methods on politicians.
Mr Kearney, who faces unrelated charges over leaking stories to a local newspaper, issued a statement through his solicitor to the BBC regarding the alleged surveillance of Mr Khan's meetings with Mr Ahmad.
He said there was "significant pressure from the Metropolitan police requesting that we covertly record a social visit between a terrorist detainee and a member of parliament".
"The MP concerned was Sadiq Khan... I did record the visit but have never felt it was justified in these circumstances," he added.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said Mr Kearney's comments, if true, were an "extraordinary allegation".
"It suggests that the decision to bug Sadiq Khan was much wider than just some junior or middle ranking officers in one police force."
Mr Davis had claimed he had contacted the prime minister in December regarding the alleged bugging, though he had not named the minister involved at the time.
A Downing Street spokesperson later said no record could be found of any correspondence from Mr Davis.
In the wake of the Sunday Times report which reported that Mr Khan had been recorded while visiting Mr Ahmad in Milton Keynes' Woodhill Prison between 2005 and 2006, justice secretary Jack Straw has ordered an official inquiry to be led by surveillance commissioner Sir Christopher Rose, which will report to the House of Commons in two weeks.
Mr Straw explained yesterday that no ministerial involvement would have been necessary for the bugging to take place, with a senior police officer capable of authorising surveillance of this nature.