Scum-watch: The silence is deafening.
Add another stack of lies to the already toppling tower that is the continued smearing of the Koyair brothers. You might remember that back in July, after it had been comprehensively proved that the most deadly poison the brothers and their family had in their home in Forest Gate was a bottle of aspirin, that searches of Mohammed Abdul Kahar's computer and phone had found child pornography. Rather than the police announcing this development themselves, it was, naturally, leaked to the News of the World, which along with the Sun had dedicated itself to defending our brave boys in blue from the accusations that the terror raid was an unjustified fiasco from beginning to end.ANTI-TERROR cops were stunned when their massive raid on suspect bombers in Forest Gate turned into a chilling child porn probe, we can reveal.
Their week-long search of the house uncovered no explosives or chemical weapons—but officers unearthed a haul of vile kiddie sex pictures on the family's computer.
After forensic investigation they now plan to arrest and quiz 23-year-old Mohammed Abdul Kahar, who was shot in the shoulder during the police swoop on his east London home.
The News of the World can reveal that Scotland Yard has already consulted lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service who have recommended charges be brought.
A CPS source said: "This isn't what officers expected to find when they were searching the computer files.
"The child pornography has been graded ‘high level' and the images are extremely disturbing.
"These are very serious offences and will be treated like any other case of its kind."
...
Meanwhile the seized computer was being examined by IT experts and forensic teams.
They found the horrifying collection of kiddie porn pictures which have now been handed over to specialists at Scotland Yard's Child Abuse Investigation Command SCD5.
Whoops! Three months later, hoping that everyone had forgotten and helpfully released late on a Friday night, the CPS announced the following:
Prosecutors have advised police not to bring child pornography charges against the man who was shot by police during a counter-terrorist raid earlier this year, it was announced tonight.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said Mohammed Abdul Kahar would face no charges over allegations that 44 indecent images had been found on electronic equipment at his home.
Oh, but it doesn't end there. It gets even better:
Forensic examination of a Dell computer, an external computer hard-drive and various mobile phones found 44 indecent images of children in the memories, he added. The images included indecent "movies", he said.
Of the total, 23 were "embedded" images - which could have been inadvertently downloaded on the back of other computer files - and 21 were "deleted". These 21 were all on the external hard drive and a Nokia 3G mobile.
"To transfer to the phone, the suspect would have to have specialist knowledge," the spokesman added. "There was no evidence that Mr Kahar had possession of, or access to, equipment or the technical knowledge to do so."
There was no certain creation or deletion date for 15 of the 21 deleted images, he added.
"Technical evidence showed that the remaining six had a purported creation date of the May 28, 2006, but no deletion dates," the spokesman said.
"The forensic report suggested that the last usage before seizure was the day following creation - May 29 2006. This meant any possession would have been for a very short period of time.
"Depending on the circumstances, it can be a recognised defence to making an image if a person comes into possession of material that is unsolicited and/or unwanted and quickly deletes that material."
Cut through the bullshit, and what quickly becomes apparent is that something very strange is going on here. Kahar doesn't have the knowledge to transfer the images to the phone, so who did, and how did they get there? It's quite easy to manufacture fake creation dates for files - all you have to do is set the computer's internal clock back to the date you want. As for transferring the images to the phone, it wouldn't be that difficult; you'd only need a USB cable or Bluetooth connection, or you could email them to yourself. It's therefore worth wondering whether the CPS's claim of needing special knowledge is cover for something else.
Far be it from me to besmirch the good name of the officers who carried out the inquiry by suggesting that they might be behind this, but let's examine the evidence. Constant leaks to the press, especially the Murdoch tabloids, damn the brothers before they'd even been in custody for a couple of days. After the officers have completed taking the house apart, finding only a large sum of money which was explained by the families' religious beliefs on bank accounts which give interest, there's nothing for them to fall back on except their shoddy intelligence. With the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes still causing anger, wrongly fragging a man for no reason doesn't improve the image of the Met. Enter a bright spark who comes up with the wonderful idea of both smearing the brothers and earning some money at the same time. Bright spark possibly enlists the help of the special child pornography team at Scotland Yard (or possibly doesn't, judging by the crucial screw-ups), who plant images on Kahar's computer and phone, but make the mistake of using "embedded images" and not realising that the brother isn't the technical whizz they perhaps take him to be, of putting some of the files on the phone. (Or the CPS uses this as an excuse for not charging him.) Having done the deed, bright spark phones the News of the Screws, feeds them the details, earns a wad of cash for his trouble and the raid is justified by the "chilling and horrifying" images found. Job's a good un.
Too bad then, that it all fell apart when the CPS took a proper look rather than just going along with what was reported by the News of the Screws and the evidence on the face of it given to them by the police. The Sun naturally followed up the story, and the Daily Star, which when the raid actually happened didn't even cover it on their front page, splashed on the find. Terrorist suspect turns out to be evil paedophile, news at 11.
Update:
The Sun did in fact report the decision not to charge Kahar, which I missed previously through a dud search. Apologies, and thanks to Not Saussure. They do however quote one "frustrated cop" who says:
"The images were there and it should have been left to a jury to decide who put them there.”
Yes, although the police would be rather in the shit if a jury decided that someone other Kahar had put them there, which is why the CPS didn't take the risk.
The Scum also dedicates its leader to the subject, frantically trying to persuade its readers with longer memories that they weren't so certain that something was to be found, as well as justifying their "smear and think of the consequences later" attitude:
But imagine the outcry if they’d stood by and the threat had proved real. And remember, at least four terror plots against Britain have been foiled since 7/7, according to the Home Secretary.
The successes are less spectacular than the failures. But they may have saved hundreds of people.
Perhaps some of the very people quick to jump on the police-bashing bandwagon.
By the same logic, one of the police-supporters to the death, such as Rebekah Wade, could have been shot dead by CO19 like Jean Charles de Menezes was, with her instead of him then being smeared in the press as a rapist and overstaying his visa, while the police told lie after lie in public. How then would her family have felt about the "police-bashers"? The Sun also willfully forgets its involvement in the hysteria after the 21st of July failed bombings, which undoubtedly contributed to the pressure on police to find the perpetrators. Still, at least they can depend on the support of a national newspaper whatever they do. For those caught in the fallout from that dodgy intelligence, with lies being printed daily about them, there is no hiding place.
(P.S. There has no been apology or article in the News of the World about no charges being brought, as far as I can tell.)
The Sun has, in fact, reported that the charges were dropped, albeit with a remark from an anonymous officer that “The images were there and it should have been left to a jury to decide who put them there.”
That's clearly nonsense, since that's not what a trial's about; the jury isn't asked, 'Well, who do you think put them there?' but, 'Here's the evidence we've got that he put them there; have we convinced you?' and, if the CPS don't think there's any chance of a jury being convinced by what the police have found for them, they don't bother.
The Sun also devotes an editorial to the subject, saying 'Viewed alongside the tragic shooting of student Jean Charles de Menezes, it looks like the cops are lurching from one calamity to another. Indeed, on both occasions they do seem to have acted quickly on dodgy intelligence.'
Posted by Not Saussure | 10:17 AM
Yes just one lame and pitiful attempt to cover up the mess they seem to create and I think whoever leaked the cp claim to the gutter press should be charged and kicked out of the force. Just what is this coming to so do we all now accept that anyone can be raided and arrested based upon crap intelligence and then when they find nothing they search a computer and then claim to find some images of CP or should we clear up that label by saying pictures of someone who appears to under the age of 18.
Well I for one cannot wait to see that crass ginning idiot and his greedy ugly wife (my opinion)booted out of number 10 and the sooner the better.
Posted by Anonymous | 12:38 PM
It's standard practice to report the fact that someone's been arrested and bailed, though, anonymous; do you say the arrests and release on bail of Lord Levy, Sir Christopher Evans and Des Smith should not have been reported?
Posted by Not Saussure | 4:50 PM
It's something quite different though for the arrest to be reported four days before it actually happened, not saussure, which is what occurred here. Thanks for correcting me on the Sun reporting it, my search missed because they didn't print his full name. Doh.
Posted by . | 8:14 PM