Facebook failed to reveal messages for a year
FACEBOOK took an entire year to hand over crucial evidence to police investigating Lucy’s death, it can be revealed.
Its refusal to share messages between the teenager and killer Stephen Nicholson in the hours before her death forced officers into a torturous legal process.
After months of pleading for assistance, the tech giant finally handed over the information on the day Nicholson was due to stand trial at Winchester Crown Court.
It prompted widespread calls for reform to force social media companies to provide information more quickly during criminal investigations. Britain’s top police officer Cressida Dick said tech firms should be made to assist ‘within minutes’. Prosecutors and police yesterday said that if Facebook had supplied the information sooner, the wide-ranging investigation may have been much easier.
Hampshire Police was forced to ask the US company for assistance after Nicholson refused to hand over his password, claiming it would reveal information about his drug use. His stonewalling led to a 14month jail sentence under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act before he had even been charged with Lucy’s murder. Officers from the force were then forced to apply to the US Justice Department for access to Nicholson’s accounts.
When the information arrived on the day the trial started, it simply contained a log of contact between Nicholson and the girl, with no information about the messages, which had been deleted.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Storey described the information as a ‘damp squib’, adding: ‘It has been frustrating. Facebook have to show they have done their duty.’
John Montague, senior prosecutor for the CPS in Wessex, said that if access had been provided earlier more details may have still been available and provided further evidence.
A Facebook spokesman said: ‘This is a tragic case and our hearts go out to the family of Lucy McHugh.
‘We agree that this legal process can be far too slow which is why we have actively lobbied for reforms to EU, US and UK laws to allow us, and others, to directly and more quickly provide information to UK law enforcement authorities.’