The former Scotland Yard detective who examined Damian Green’s work PC said today it contained thousands of pornographic images
The former Scotland Yard detective who examined Damian Green’s work PC said today it contained thousands of pornographic images.
Neil Lewis, who seized the computer in 2008, says there is ‘no doubt whatsoever’ that the deputy prime minister was watching porn and it is ‘ridiculous’ to suggest otherwise.
Mr Lewis, who has since retired from the Met, said similar pornographic material was found on his laptop.
Mr Green, who was then a shadow immigration minister, said recently the claims were ‘false’ and ‘completely untrue’.
The detective says that on some days porn was browsed and open on the computer for hours and the way the computer was used made him think it was Mr Green doing it.
He told the BBC: ‘The computer was in Mr Green’s office, on his desk, logged in, his account, his name.
‘In between browsing pornography, he was sending emails from his account, his personal account, reading documents… it was ridiculous to suggest anybody else could have done it’.
The police officer, who worked as a lead in digital crime after being a leading counter-terrorism officer, was working on Operation Miser in 2008.
This was an investigation into Home Office leaks that led to Mr Green’s Commons office being searched by police and his computers being analysed.
Last month it emerged porn watched on Damian Green’s computer was so extreme that viewing such images was made illegal just weeks later, it has been claimed.
Images of a disturbing nature were said to have been viewed in the deputy PM’s Commons office on ‘an almost daily basis’.
Some of the porn found on the system was said to be so extreme that police took advice from the CPS on whether to prosecute.
But they were told no relevant law was in place when Mr Green’s office was raided on November 27, 2008. The law was changed eight weeks later, in January 2009.
It is understood that detectives seized at least four computers during the investigation, including three desktops and a laptop. All were understood to be registered to the parliamentary network.
When allegations first emerged, the deputy PM said they were ‘false’ and ‘completely untrue’.
But he has since appeared to drop his claim that there was never any porn on his seized computers and instead reiterated that police had never told him about the discovery.
One source claimed yesterday that porn was being accessed up to eight hours a day.
‘Porn was being accessed on an almost virtual daily basis. Police were told nothing could be done,’ the source said.
‘Quite simply, it was not illegal to be in possession of extreme images before January 2009. If the raid had happened a few weeks later it would have been.’
The allegations have heaped further pressure on the embattled First Secretary of State who became the subject of a Whitehall ‘sleaze’ inquiry after a female journalist said he ‘fleetingly’ touched her knee two years ago.