(((This British scandal's got a VOGUE editor in it. What the heck have they dumped in the water-cooler? I sure hope there's no connection between this weird, coke-fueled, rich-socialite's conspiracy and private investigators in New Delhi.)))
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2015469,00.html
The Sunday Times
January 29, 2006
Millionaire on hacking charge
Sophie Kirkham
MATTHEW MELLON, heir to a L6.6 billion banking and oil fortune, will appear in court next month in connection with an investigation into an alleged phone-tapping and computer hacking gang.
The former husband of Tamara Mellon, who runs the Jimmy Choo shoe empire, will appear alongside 17 other defendants accused of involvement in the operation, which allegedly provided clients with confidential information about wealthy people and businesses.
Following a tip-off from BT, Scotland Yard has conducted a long investigation into a private detective agency run by a former policeman which it believed was bugging phone calls.
It is now alleged the group was also hacking into NHS computers to access confidential medical files to blackmail people, spying on police and bugging their phone calls to get information. There are also several charges of falsifying invoices.
One of the group is said to have taken BT overalls, a reflective jacket and tools, along with a BT works barrier and stool, and a shirt from NTL, another other telecoms company. (((Good Lord....)))
A regular on the London social scene and close friends with Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant, Mellon, 41, inherited a L14m trust fund at the age of 21. He now has a fortune put by The Sunday Times Rich List at L50m. His family is held in the same regard in America as the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Astors. (((Well, it used to be, anyhow. Now everybody's gonna be doing a bug-sweep when a Mellon leaves the room.)))
He met Tamara Yeardye in 1998. The couple’s marriage in 2000 at Blenheim Palace took up eight pages in American Vogue and the bride wore a Valentino wedding dress encrusted with diamonds. More than half the guests were said to be wearing Jimmy Choos.
The Mellons spent several years as a golden couple of London society often appearing in magazine pages and at charity functions. In 2002 they had a daughter, Araminta. But the marriage fell apart amid revelations of Mellon’s cocaine habit, which he is said to have battled in the 1990s, and the couple went through an acrimonious divorce last year.
After the marriage ended Tamara, who is now worth L60m in her own right, (((now that's a trophy wife, shame about the cocaine problem))) began seeing Oscar Humphries, the son of Barry, creator of Dame Edna Everage. Mellon has recently said he was planning a change in career from working as chief designer for Harry’s, an upmarket men's shoe company he launched five years ago; he has tried his hand at film producing in the past.
He remains a colourful figure on the social scene; his hobbies are said to include nude jet skiing; and he has had a string of celebrity girlfriends since his marriage break-up. He is currently seeing Noelle Reno, a 24-year-old actress. (((Get her a Bollywood gig.)))
Mellon, who lives in Belgravia, London, is charged with conspiracy to cause unauthorised modification of computer material. (((This wretched guy must be the richest and most famous hacker ever indicted.)))
Also in the dock at Bow Street magistrates' court in February will be another wealthy businessman, Adrian Kirby, who made his money from waste disposal units. Kirby, 47, of Haslemere, Surrey, has a fortune put at L65m by the Rich List. (((What's got into these upper-class twits? It's like they're staring straight into the sun!)))
He is charged with conspiracy to intercept communications unlawfully, unauthorised modification of computer material and perverting the course of justice. (((Those are some damn serious charges. They're planning to break this guy like a breadstick. This is gonna be a debacle.)))
Former Essex police officer Scott Gelsthorpe, 31, of Kettering, Northamptonshire, is facing 15 charges. (((They're not liking the bent cop, either.)))
The suspects, 17 men and one woman, (((okay, who's the femme fatale))) come from southern England, Lincolnshire and France and are said to have committed the offences between July and September 2004. They will appear before magistrates on February 23.
(((Okay, we got Britain, we got India... who's next for a centipede? Canada?)))
