Philip Campbell Smith, a private investigator who is alleged to have hacked emails on behalf of the News of the World, was today jailed for eight months on separate charges of “blagging” information from the Police National Computer, HM Revenue and Customs and Interpol.
Campbell Smith, 53, a former British Army Intelligence officer had admitted offences of fraud.
Kingston Crown Court heard that he and three co-defendants, including a former Metroplitan Police detective, used a range of deceptive techniques to obtain bank account and mortgage details, medical records and information from the Police National Computer.
The information was then sold to clients including solicitors, insurance companies and foreign exchange brokers
The four men, including Graham Freeman, 51, Campbell Smith’s business partner, were sentenced in what was the first case of its kind to be prosecuted as a criminal fraud rather than a data protection offence.
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