I’m thinking that unexplained deaths of News Corporation whistleblowers aren’t going to help make the story go away. It’s pretty rare for someone in their mid-forties to drop dead. And the timing couldn’t be more suspicious.
Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbusiness reporter who was the first named journalist to allege that Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead.
Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, was said to have been found at his Watford home.
Dead men tell no (more) tales. This guy had been singing like a canary, but this might have been what caused his death.
Hoare returned to the spotlight last week, after he told the New York Times that reporters at the News of the World were able to use police technology to locate people using their mobile phone signals in exchange for payments to police officers.
He said journalists were able to use a technique called “pinging” which measured the distance between mobile handsets and a number of phone masts to pinpoint its location.
Hoare gave further details about the use of “pinging” to the Guardian last week. He described how reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: “Within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say ‘right that’s where they are.'”
He said: “You’d just go to the news desk and they’d just come back to you. You don’t ask any questions. You’d consider it a job done. The chain of command is one of absolute discipline and that’s why I never bought into it, like with Andy saying he wasn’t aware of it and all that. That’s bollocks.”
He said he would stand by everything he had told the New York Times about “pinging”. “I don’t know how often it happened. That would be wrong of me. But if I had access as a humble reporter … “
He admitted he had had problems with drink and drugs and had been in rehab. “But that’s irrelevant,” he said. “There’s more to come. This is not going to go away.”
Well, part of it just did go away. The police say that the death is unexplained but not suspicious. Under the circumstances, there is no such thing as “not suspicious.”
it’s especially suspicious when you consider the degree to which the police have been dragged into this.
Exactly.
Yes, and it’s even more suspicious when they tell you that it’s being regarded as suspicious. I definitely regard it as suspicious. Guess I’m just a “conspiracy theorist”.
I meant “when they tell you it’s NOT being regarded as suspicious.”
Putting aside the major and serious implications, but this whole business, the hacking, this “non-suspicious” death, and the “mystery bag found near Brooks home”, and this just seems like we’re watching an episode of “Prime Suspect” on PBS, except in real time.
From what I’ve read, the guy had gotten himself off the coke that News Corp got him hooked on so he could get high with celebs and plumb their depths, but was a serious drinker and had recently gotten back on the sauce. I’m predicting COD will be either alcohol poisoning or alcohol-related physical problems, like stroke or heart attack.
The problem with the conspiracy theory: Seems like it would be too late. He’s already spilled the beans. Unless you think he was holding back for some kind of deal.
I suspect the most likely answer is heart attack brought on by hard living and recent elevated stress levels.
However the case for someone offing him isn’t as stupid as it initially seems. He could be a warning to other whistleblowers. He could have had something he was holding back and using to blackmail someone involved. It could just be that someone panicked and did something stupid and ultimately pointless (wouldn’t be the first time).
If it was a warning, those it’s aimed at would have to know it’s murder. Just plain revenge would be reasonable though. Those in high places can’t stand being brought down by “little guys”.
C’mon, Kate, who’s being naive.
First of all, let me get something out of the way. When a security agency kills, it usually disguises the cause of death if at all possible. Creating a heart attack is SOP. When people start turning up dead, other people get the message.
Cases where the security agency wants everyone to know they’re responsible are very rare. The Russian radiation assassination in London is the only example I can think of.
Mobsters use cruder means, but this scandal goes straight to the top of Downing Street and Scotland Yard.
I agree with Booman – at this level it doesn’t have to be obvious to be a threat. In fact, the less it looks like murder the scarier it can be. Imagine being a potential whistleblower, hearing about this guy’s death and having the coroner come up with “self-inflicted overdose” while the tabloids are hyping up assassination theories. Then you get a call at 1am telling you that if you even think about tipping off Parliament or the papers to what you know you’re next.
Hell the guy might have OD’ed for real and it’s STILL going to be scaring the shit out of the potential whistleblowers because how do you know he ODed for real? Especially when you can’t trust the cops because they’re implicated in the scandal.
he’s testified at how many trials?
if you believe that this was a ‘ normal’ death…sure…I got a bridge to sell you
I guess Scotland Yard hasn’t weighed in yet on the cause of death?
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The article in the New York Times …
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."And what about this: The death scene may have been scrubbed of evidence? From The Guardian: