Tony Blair and Operation Ore

Britain’s Largest Computer Crime Investigation

How much was really covered up?

Operation Ore, launched in 1999, stands as the United Kingdom’s most extensive computer crime investigation to date. The operation, which stemmed from intelligence provided by American law enforcement, aimed to prosecute thousands of individuals suspected of accessing child abuse imagery through a website. The investigation’s scope was unprecedented, identifying 7,250 suspects and leading to 4,283 home searches across Britain.

The operation’s origins can be traced to an American investigation into Landslide Productions Inc., a Texas-based online pornography portal operated by Thomas and Janice Reedy. Following the Reedys’ conviction for trafficking illegal content in August 2001, the FBI launched “Operation Avalanche” in the United States. As part of their investigation, the FBI briefly operated the website as a sting operation to identify additional suspects. The American authorities subsequently shared their intelligence with international law enforcement agencies, including the details of 7,272 British suspects.

The British phase of the investigation, Operation Ore, commenced in May 2002. The scale of the operation placed unprecedented strain on British police resources, prompting appeals to the government for emergency funding. Several million pounds were ultimately allocated to the investigation, though this diversion of resources reportedly hampered other ongoing child protection investigations.

The operation garnered significant media attention in early 2003 when information about suspects was leaked to the press. The Sunday Times reported that the list included numerous prominent figures, including senior executives, teachers, military personnel, medical professionals, academics, civil servants, and several individuals from the entertainment industry. The leak proved controversial, with police expressing concern that it could enable suspects to destroy evidence before they could be apprehended.

Despite its apparent initial success, with 3,744 arrests and 1,451 convictions, Operation Ore faced mounting criticism regarding its methodological rigour. Investigative journalist Duncan Campbell published a series of exposés in 2005 and 2007, highlighting significant flaws in the police’s approach. Unlike their American counterparts, British authorities failed to verify whether credit card holders in the Landslide database had actually accessed illegal content.

One of the operation’s most serious shortcomings emerged when investigators discovered 54,348 instances of stolen credit card information in the Landslide database. This revelation came seven years after the operation’s commencement and suggested that many innocent individuals had been wrongly targeted. The human cost was considerable: over 100 children were separated from their fathers during the two years it took police to acknowledge the extent of false accusations. Tragically, the operation is associated with approximately 33 suicides by 2007.

Several high-profile cases highlighted the operation’s controversies. Musician Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack was later cleared of all charges, whilst The Who’s guitarist Pete Townshend received a police caution for accessing the Landslide website. Subsequent investigations revealed that both individuals had accessed unrelated content through the site. Actor Chris Langham was among those convicted.

The operation’s credibility faced further challenges when independent investigators obtained both database records and footage of the Landslide raid. In UK court proceedings, Michael Mead of the United States Postal Service contradicted his previous US testimony regarding several aspects of the investigation. These discrepancies led to a group action lawsuit in 2006, with falsely arrested individuals taking legal action against the operation’s detectives.

The controversy extended to expert witnesses involved in the case. Jim Bates, an independent computer expert who analysed hard drives during the investigation, was later convicted of making false statements and perjury regarding his qualifications. He was subsequently barred from appearing as an expert witness. Bates faced further legal troubles when he was arrested for possession of indecent images during his Operation Ore investigations, though a subsequent search of his home was ruled unlawful due to procedural errors.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and its chief executive, Jim Gamble, faced criticism for their defence of the operation, particularly their use of imprecise terminology that lacked recognised meaning within child protection or law enforcement contexts.

The operation’s legal standing was tested in December 2010 when the Court of Appeal heard the case of Anthony O’Shea. Senior judges rejected his appeal, stating they were “entirely confident that the appellant was rightly convicted.” The judgement dismissed O’Shea’s claims regarding IP address manipulation as “fanciful in the extreme.” This ruling was particularly significant as the case had been viewed as a potential precedent that could have led to the overturning of many Operation Ore convictions.

Operation Ore represents a complex chapter in British law enforcement history. While it succeeded in identifying and prosecuting some genuine offenders, its methodological flaws and the resulting false accusations raise important questions about the balance between aggressive law enforcement and due process in the digital age. The operation’s legacy continues to influence discussions about the conduct of large-scale cybercrime investigations and the importance of robust procedural safeguards.

Summary

* According to Detective Chief Inspector Bob MacLachlan (former head of Scotland Yard’s paedophile unit), the operation faced significant challenges due to delays in making arrests, potentially allowing suspects to destroy evidence

* At the time of reporting, only 1,200 arrests had been made out of an anticipated 7,000 suspects across the UK

* A senior British intelligence source confirmed that at least one former Labour Cabinet Minister was among the Operation Ore suspects, though they could not be named for legal reasons

* Reports indicated that a special cabinet committee had been established to manage potential political fallout for Tony Blair’s government if arrests were made

* MacLachlan criticized claims of prioritizing pedophile crime as “smoke and mirrors,” noting that it wasn’t included in the Home Office’s National Policing Plan for 2003-06

* The investigation team at Scotland Yard was reportedly under-resourced, with MacLachlan stating they were understaffed, overworked, underfunded, and reduced to using free software from computer magazines

* The scale of online abuse material was vast:
* Approximately one million images were found online
* An estimated 20,000 individual children were depicted
* Some seizures contained over 180,000 images
* Images of 13,000 new children were discovered in the previous year
* Only 17 child victims had been identified worldwide

* Police sources indicated that the list of high-profile suspects would be sufficient to fill newspaper front pages for an entire year

* The Internet Watch Foundation was developing software that could potentially remove child abuse material from the internet permanently, with an expected completion time of two years

* The investigation had already led to the arrest of Detective Constable Brian Stevens in September 2002, who had been involved in the Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman murder investigation

The aftermath

It is alleged that Tony Blair issued a D-notice to the media, which are valid for 100 years, a petition to have that changed was declined and there is no current action being taken to expose the paedophiles who were at the heart of government.

Should this be overturned? I believe it should.