Annex 10: UK RETAINED COMMUNICATIONS DATA USE CASES
(7.49 above, European Commission)
Case 1
1.
In September 2009 the body of taxi driver Stuart Ludlam was discovered with two
gunshot wounds to the head in the boot of his taxi outside the train station in
Derbyshire Police carried out checks on the mobiles Ludlam was carrying at the time
of his murder in order to help identify his killer. His work telephone had been stolen
but data on communications using that device were identified through subscriber
checks which revealed that Ludlam had received diverted calls from the main taxi
office number. Incoming and outgoing call data with cell site locations were requested
to trace Ludlam's movements on that day. Call data was of no use at this time as it
only showed the taxi number on divert calling. Police then applied for call data for the
taxi landline number to identify the last number to have contacted Ludlam and any
other numbers that might be of interest to the investigation, in order to establish how
he might have been lured to the murder scene. The last number to have called the
taxi company was attributed to a pre-paid SIM card for which there were no subscriber
details. Using the telephone data police were able to identify the place where the
telephone had been purchased and where the last top-up before the murder had been
purchased, which was at a supermarket petrol station a few days beforehand. The
petrol station did not have in-store CCTV but police requested the till records which
revealed another transaction of 20 GBP of petrol at the same time as the purchasing
of the mobile telephone top-up. Officers now knew the time the top-up was
purchased, and so examined all CCTV tapes from locations in the vicinity of the
supermarket, which showed a male purchasing a mobile telephone in a nearby shop.
This male was identified as Colin Cheetham, who after further investigation was
convicted of Ludlam's murder and jailed for 30 years. Without access to relevant
traffic data Cheetham might never have been identified.
Case 2
2.
A 14-year old female from the Fife area was reported missing in November 2009. She
had a history of self-harm and multiple suicide attempts. She had left a note for her
parents in which she claimed to have been “hearing voices”. A trace to find the live
location of the victim's telephone was carried out but it had been switched off.
Historical call data was examined to ascertain with whom she had been in contact
prior to her going missing. The call data identified a mobile telephone whose
subscription was attached to an individual unknown to the girl's parents. Checks at
the registered address of the subscriber revealed that the missing girl was in the
company of a 36-year-old man whom she had met in an internet chat room. The man
was charged with sexual offences.
Case 3
3.
UK authorities received intelligence from US authorities that an individual using email
had sent a movie file of a woman sexually abusing a four-month-old girl. The log-on
IP address for this account was found to be registered to a male from Northampton.
339