Policeman bugged rich and famous

10:30am Thursday 5th July 2007

A CROOKED detective agency using illicit means to spy on the lovers and opponents of the rich and famous was run by South Woodford police officer Jeremy Young.

Detective Constable Young, 39, raked in hundreds of thousands of pounds as head of the Active Investigation Service (AIS) while still pocketing his police salary on indefinite sick leave from the Met.

Among his super-rich clients was American multi-millionaire Matthew Mellon who hired AIS to hack into the emails of his ex-wife, Jimmy Choo shoes boss Tamara Mellon.

Southwark Crown Court heard how Young set up AIS under the alias Jamie Black in 1999, employing retired police officer and longstanding colleague Scott Gelsthorpe as his right-hand man.

The pair bragged decades of Scotland Yard experience between them, and Young hired telecom experts and computer hackers to help carry out his dirty work.

The corrupt cop, who has since moved to Barkingside, thought nothing of breaking the law to help the super-rich snoop on their wives and carry out industrial espionage.

His clients included celebrities, business tycoons, multi-millionaires and even a judge, and the AIS boss did not hesitate to tap private landlines, raid confidential medical records or hack into computers to get the information they demanded.

Young charged anything from £3,000 to bug a telephone and £5,000 to hack into a computer, and customers unable to resist the services paid up to £7,000 a month to intercept an opponent's emails or hack into a rival's bank account.

Southwark Crown Court heard how "smooth-talking, sociable and credible" Young tried "not to get his hands dirty" and rarely signed his name to documents.

A massive police surveillance operation investigating the agency was finally launched in 2004 when it emerged that Young, supposedly off with depression, was actually working full-time.

Meanwhile, British Tele-com were investigating the dramatic increase in local intercepts on landlines which they became aware of in 2003, and identified AIS telecoms experts Michael Hall and Stuart Dowling who admitted illegally intercepting communications and causing £50,000 of damage to BT property.

Young pleaded guilty to 15 charges in relation to the agency including conspiracy to defraud, cause criminal damage, cause unauthorised modification of computer material and the interception of communications.

Gelsthorpe and agency employee David Carroll, 59, who had a supervisory role in the agency, were also convicted of conducting illegal activities.

Young will be sentenced along with the other defendants at a date yet to be fixed.