communications data plays a crucial role in the successful outcome of prosecutions
and often it is the primary reason why offenders plead guilty.
3.25 I would like to highlight a few examples of how communications data is used
by police forces and law enforcement agencies to investigate criminal offences. It
may provide a better understanding of its importance to a criminal investigation
and the following examples are based on extracts from the Inspector’s reports. For
obvious reasons I cannot name the individuals concerned and I do not intend to
reveal the strategy for using communications data as that may inhibit the conduct
of future investigations.
3.26 In the first case a group of Muslim youths were targeting people of a similar
age in the ethnic Indian community and the situation became very tense when
a number of youths were kidnapped off the streets and seriously assaulted. The
police were called in to investigate when attempts to resolve these matters through
elders in both communities met with failure. Communications data was obtained
in relation to a mobile telephone which was being used by one of the suspects to
orchestrate the attacks and this helped the police identify him and several of his
accomplices who were arrested. In this case the communications data had been
used effectively to detect and prevent crime and also indirectly to ease tensions in
the community.
3.27 The second case involved a serious violent and sexual assault upon a woman
who was walking her dog in the countryside. The assailant, who had no previous
connections with his victim, took all of the woman’s clothing and possessions,
including a mobile telephone, and left her for dead. Fortunately she recovered
sufficiently to summon assistance from passers-by and she was rushed to hospital.
A sophisticated investigation was mounted by the police and communications
data played a pivotal role in tracing the offender and bringing him to justice. He
pleaded guilty when confronted with the evidence and he has been sentenced to
life imprisonment, with a recommendation that he should serve at least 23 years.
3.28 Another sexual attack upon a woman had a completely different outcome.
During a police investigation a man was suspected because he had previously
committed offences of a similar nature. Communications data was obtained in
relation to the suspect, the victim and a key witness, who was identified solely
through the acquisition of the data. When the investigation team pieced all of this
together they were able to cast doubt upon the victim’s account of the events and
eliminate the suspect completely. I highlight this example because it shows how
data can help to establish innocence.
3.29 In some instances, however, errors may result in catastrophic consequences
for members of the public. When that happens it is my responsibility and that of
my Inspectors to investigate the circumstances and work with the public authority
concerned to review their systems and processes to prevent them recurring. In this
particular example the police took swift action when information from a reliable
source suggested that a number of very young children were at immediate risk
of falling into the hands of a paedophile ring. Subscriber information relating
to an Internet Protocol (IP) Address was obtained in order to locate an address
for the children but unfortunately it would appear this was not correct. The
police entered the address and arrested a person who was completely innocent
and further enquiries are continuing. This was a very unfortunate error and the
whole process of obtaining data relating to IP addresses has been re-examined.
In this case there was confusion between the Internet Service Provider and the
public authority over how the data should be interpreted, particularly in relation
to the critical international time zones. Better checks and balances have been put
in place to help clarify the process, which includes liaison with the SPoC trainers
and these should help to prevent similar errors in the future.
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