Is this Pippa hacker?
Police search web designer’s home over the theft of 3,000 intimate photos from iPhone
A MAN held by police over the hacking of Pippa Middleton’s iCloud account was last night revealed to be an unemployed website designer.
Nathan Wyatt, 35, was questioned by Scotland Yard over a bid to sell 3,000 personal photos stolen from the web account, which exists as a back-up for iPhones.
Officers suspect a hacker gained access to Miss Middleton’s account on the iCloud – which also carries phone numbers, emails and documents stored on users’ phones – before the huge cache of images was offered for sale for at least £50,000.
They fear the cyber thief has also accessed highly sensitive contact details for senior royals, including Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.
In a sign of how seriously they are taking the breach, the inquiry is being overseen by experts from the force’s counterterrorism command.
At the weekend the focus of their inquiries swung on to Mr Wyatt’s council home in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
Up to a dozen officers spent the day conducting a fingertip search as they removed evidence, believed to include computers and mobile phones.
The terrace house is occupied by Mr Wyatt, his fiancee of four years, their young children and Dave the family dog.
Neighbours said they had not seen the computer enthusiast, who styles himself a ‘crafty Cockney’ online, since officers descended on the house on Saturday afternoon.
Mr Wyatt is responsible for several company websites, includ-
‘I’m intending a quick US sale’
ing that of a family-run Northampton recruitment firm and an online garden furniture centre.
Among the stolen images are believed to be photos of the Duchess of Cambridge and her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
They are also said to include photographs of Miss Middleton and her mother Carole during a wedding dress fitting.
Miss Middleton, 33, announced earlier this year that she would marry her financier boyfriend, James Matthews, 40, in 2017.
The hacker is understood to have contacted several media organisations using an anonymous email address last week.
In a brief message, he outlined the hack before offering to conduct negotiations on WhatsApp or an encrypted messaging service.
He included three sample images, which were posted to a public picture hosting site and made clear he expected to be paid a significant sum within 48 hours.
He went on to say that they include ‘party photos’, ‘wedding dress photos’ and pictures of Kate and Pippa ‘with the royal children and pretty much everything in between…’
The photo haul was also said to include images of Miss Middleton’s fiance, who is the chief executive of Eden Rock Capital Management Group.
Signing off as ‘Mas’, the hacker added: ‘Due to current climate on privacy laws in the UK I’m intending a quick US sale but would at least give you a heads up.
‘This is obviously a vast source of info & pictures that I neither want nor intend to keep in my possession very long.’
Yesterday a marked police car remained outside Mr Wyatt’s home as plain clothes officers carried out boxes of evidence. His father, Bob Petrie, 65, who lives in Milton Keynes, said that he had not spoken to his son for six years.
Last night sources confirmed Mr Wyatt, who is also known as Nathan Fyffes, was the suspect being questioned by police.
A source close to Miss Middleton said her lawyers had been told and said they would cooperate fully with the police inquiry.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said a man had been arrested and bailed under the Computer Misuse Act and inquiries were continuing. Pippa’s speedy family suppers
Despite being a woman more prey to falling into the maternal trap, i agree with Dr Max pemberton that no one has the right to have a child (Mail). Other women have no qualms about asking me point blank: ‘Why don’t you have any children?’
i chose not to have children because i didn’t find a partner who was truly committed to bringing another person into the world, someone who would support me in nurturing that child.
i didn’t want that support to come from anyone other than the person who had helped create the child. i didn’t want to rely on parents and siblings, out of loyalty, to shore up the domestic and emotional consequences.
there are, of course, no guarantees that a partner will stick with you, but i believe there are normally tell-tale signs long before a child is conceived. i know someone who was married to a man who had always shown signs of a serious drink problem, but she went ahead and had a child. she’s now bringing her up alone, having divorced her husband for his drinking.
that woman has countless friends who are single mothers. the reasons for the breakdown of their relationships are varied, but i imagine these were failing long before the women became pregnant.
Before deciding to bring a human being into the world, we need to examine our conscience and ensure our reasons are totally for the good of the child, not driven by our biological clock or by our own need for fulfilment.
there are many reasons not to have a child, and if you answer yes to any of these questions, you should reconsider: Are you lonely and want someone to love and call your own? Are you worried that you won’t have any family to care for you in old age?
Are you bringing a child into the world because of peer pressure? is your biological clock running down and you’re determined to have a child at any cost?
is having a child a status symbol? Will it mean you’ve ‘ticked another box’, even though you don’t feel particularly maternal?
By contrast, only if you can answer ‘yes’ to these questions should you consider having a child: Are you in a solid, loving relationship? Are you both committed to giving the best to your child? Are you both prepared to care for that child?
We childless women aren’t abnormal or lacking in love and compassion. Despite not having children of our own, we can still understand and feel for anyone who has lost a child. We can still have family values, and we deserve respect for the difficult, selfless decision we’ve made. JULIE FIELD, Kings Norton, Birmingham.
Cruel lesson
Reading about the little girl and her shaggy calf solas (Mail), my heart filled with joy — until i reached the end. i froze with disbelief that the calf will be sent to the slaughterhouse.
How can anyone say ‘that’s just the way it is’? How callous to teach a child it’s right that when the time comes, five-year-old tara’s pet will be slaughtered, because it’s just one of the herd, it’s worth money and that’s more important than compassion.
What does it teach a child about loyalty and love if her parents say she already accepts it? there’s a word for that — brainwashing.
How many animals would form such a trusting bond with a human as solas has, only to be let down?
no wonder humanity is a dirty word and compassion is just for fools? A pet is a pet no matter if it’s a cow or a stick insect in a jar. this girl will grow up with the impression that it’s normal to say ‘Bye bye, your time is up’, then move on to the next horror story.
L. WALLACE, Elworth, Cheshire.
Small change
Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of england, believes that the value of the penny is too small (Mail), but has he not heard the maxim: ‘Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’?
After an encounter with some large charities that were avaricious and ungrateful as i wound up an estate, i decided to stop my charitable giving and save my loose change. i would normally have dropped it into a charity box, but i’ve now accumulated a tidy nestegg in a special bank account for my grandchildren.
Lose our penny and £5.99 will become £6. Like the demise of our ha’penny, losing the 1p will give the green light for shops to rip us off — yet again.
H. S. COOK, Halesowen, West Mids.
Fraud warning
i hope publication of my traumatic experience can help prevent anyone else facing the problem i did.
My landline rang at 6.15pm one evening and i answered it, to be told i was speaking to HM Revenue and Customs.
the caller said they had been trying to trace me. As an acute anxiety sufferer, my reaction was to freeze. i went straight into ‘What-have-i-done-wrong?’ mode.
Fortunately, i had the presence of mind to ring HMRC on a different number from the one used by the caller and was told i’d been contacted by scammers.
i dialled 1471 and noted the number from which the call originated and a recorded message said i was through to HMRC. the real HMRC gentleman i spoke to reassured me that my affairs were completely in order and, once i’d calmed down, i rang the police.
i kept thinking, what if this happens to a vulnerable person? i was lucky; the police were brilliant and gave me the number of Action Fraud (0300 123 2040) whom i then contacted. they took details and are investigating. SHEILA P. EVENDEN,
Seaford, E. Sussex.
Ban faith schools
FAR from allowing the creation of new ‘faith schools’, the government should be abolishing those that already exist, bringing them into the state system of education.
the religious indoctrination of children lies at the heart of most of the world’s problems today. Abolish faith schools — and, with them, private education. At a stroke we would dispense with religion, intolerance and inherited privilege.
A. SMITH, Ledbury, Herefordshire.
Snouts out
is there really ‘nothing to be afraid of with the introduction of wild boar’ (Letters)? Wild boar and feral pigs, the domesticated variety of the species, with identical habits, have caused colossal damage worldwide. in Australia, they’re the main mammalian pest species, killing large numbers of lambs and other livestock every year.
British wildlife is in steep decline, and there’s much less countryside than there was when wild boar last roamed Britain.
native ground- nesting birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and plants will all be at risk from wild boar. Woodland habitats don’t require a gluttonous omnivore: my best advice would be to keep their snouts out.
BILL NAYLOR, Wilsford, Lincs.
Par for the course
The tory Minister Liam Fox might be right about British businessmen and golf (Mail). When i worked as an engineer on a petrochemical plant, we ran a construction crew consisting of craftsmen supplied by a major player in the north sea oil construction industry.
these were men who wanted some land-based work for a while, but were all the best in their trades. the terms of employment were what you would expect, with the addition of one rule: no golfers. We discovered the necessity for this rule the hard way.
in the early days, we would frequently reach a point where someone would say ‘this work has to be completed by . . .’ or ‘roll up your sleeves, we’re working through the night until the plant can restart’ and voices would be heard saying: ‘i can’t. i have a golf match . . .’ these were often key workers.
Mr Fox is correct — and it’s not just company bosses who get their priorities wrong in the matter of work versus golf.
BRIAN F. BOWE, Chesterfield, Derbys.