They were legal, but Green’s computer had thousands of porn images, ex-cop tells BBC
NEIL LEWIS: The shocking thing as I was viewing I noticed a lot of pornography thumbnails which indicated web browsing... I was surprised to see that on a parliamentary computer... BBC’S DANNY SHAW: How many images did you see on that? NL: There were thousands
BBC: Thousands of pornographic images? NL: Thumbnail images
BBC: How can you be sure that it was Damian Green who was accessing that pornography?
NL: I’ve been in situations where a barrister has said to me in court: ‘So you’re telling me my client has done this?’ And I have to say: ‘Well, no because I wasn’t there.’ But the computer was in Mr Green’s office on his desk, logged in to his account, his name. In between browsing pornography he was sending emails from his account his personal account, reading documents, writing documents and it was just impossible. It was sort of exclusive and extensive. It’s ridiculous to suggest that anybody else could have done it.
BBC: Is it possible that someone could have hijacked the computer or hijacked the account in some way to access pornography in his name on his account?
NL: I can’t imagine it. It would be a very bizarre situation for somebody to hack a parliamentary computer to place pornography. There was also pornography found, internet history found, on a separate machine – a laptop – of a similar nature. pornography on this scale just strikes some people as impossible or absurd. There must be some explanation - someone else has hijacked his account or there’s an error at Scotland Yard or possibly someone’s tried to plant it?
NL: I wish there was. It was shocking at the time when he was shadow immigration minister. I never imagined I’d be sitting here down the line discussing it.
BBC: There was no doubt in your mind that it was Damian Green who had accessed pornography on that computer? NL: Absolutely no doubt whatsoever.
BBC: Did you make a statement on what you’ve found to your senior investigating officer? NL: That’s correct BBC: Did you mention pornography? NL: No. No I didn’t. Because it had no bearing on the leak investigation. If there was browsing in relation to leaked documents that would have been relevant.
BBC: So why now in 2017 why are you now coming forward doing an interview?
NL: There was an article in the Sunday Times in relation to Damian Green having pornography on his computer. His outright denial of that was quite amazing followed by his criticism of Bob Quick, my senior officer. So I contacted Bob Quick to offer my support. When I left the place I kept one notebook [on this case].
BBC: Why did you keep that notebook? NL: Because that was the case that I was uncomfortable with.