Hacked Off lawyer used... hacked emails

A LEADING barrister who campaigns against media hacking won a multimillion pound High Court case using evidence from hacked emails.

Hugh Tomlinson, KC, is chairman of the pressure group Hacked Off, which was set up following the phone-hacking scandal and helps victims of ‘press abuse’ who have had private data stolen.

But an investigation by the Sunday Times and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that evidence allegedly gleaned from hacking was used by his client, the state of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, in a case against an American-Iranian businessman Farhad Azima. It is claimed an Indian ‘hack for hire’ gang obtained Mr Azima’s emails.

The investigation found evidence that a former Metropolitan Police officer instructed the gang to target the businessman’s emails and that this officer was working for the UAE state.

Ultimately tens of thousands of emails, photos, voice recordings, videos and text messages were uploaded on to the internet. Mr Tomlinson, 69, presented Mr Azima’s emails as evidence in the London High Court case not knowing how they came to be on the internet.

The state of Ras al-Khaimah refused to comment. Mr Tomlinson yesterday said he has a ‘professional obligation to take any case within my areas of expertise.’