'The McCanns and the Conman' - 1. The biography of Kevin Halligen 2. A checklist of questions for Channel 5 programme to answer

by **Jill Havern** 23.04.19 9:45

Tony Bennett wrote this article on 4 June 2014 following news that Channel 5 were due to show a film, mainly about Kevin Halligen, called 'The McCanns and the Con-Man'. The programme was transmitted shortly after Tony wrote this article. It was revised and updated by MMRG on 16 May 2019.

MMRG considers that this Channel 5 documentary was a misleading farce. The central theme of the film was that the McCanns and Brian Kennedy, who conducted their private investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, had been deceived by the artful skills of Kevin Halligen into paying him a total of £563,000 for just 4 months' work looking for Madeleine - 4 months' work which came to nothing.

MMRG argues, by contrast, that Kevin Halligen was deliberately chosen by the McCann Team, the Directors of the Helping to Find Madeleine Fund and Brian Kennedy, NOT to find Madeleine, but primarily to promote stories which promoted the McCanns' abduction narrative.

The former Head of Covert Intelligence for MI5, Henri Exton, also appears in the documentary. Exton was appointed along with Halligen by Brian Kennedy. MMRG does not accept that he was deceived into working for Halligen, but agreed to work for the McCanns and for Brian Kennedy knowing full well what they required of him.

Below are some biographical notes on Kevin Halligen, who died in mysterious circumstances.

Tony had also included a series of questions for Channel 5 to answer. In the end, Channel 5's documentary answered none of those questions.

=============================================================

KEVIN (RICHARD) HALLIGEN: A BIOGRAPHY

Kevin Richard Halligen

(Note: Links in the article may not always work)

1961 14 July - Born Dublin

1988 (Aged 27) Said to have been working for the next 15 years in ‘Defence Technology’

1991 March (Aged 29) - Married Kevin R. Halligen married Jennifer P. Darvill (or Palmer) in Alton, Hampshire

1990s – Begins to work on (‘been closely involved in’) "Special" Projects for the Ministry of Defence. The commentator ‘Blackwatch’ once wrote of this period of Halligen’s life as follows: “Like many entering the worlds of private security and defence, Halligen has spent much of his prior career precariously enmeshed in lucrative projects for the Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defense”.

By 1995. Halligen is working for DSB Special Batteries Ltd, based in Crawley, West Sussex. In 1995, the exhibited at the International Power Sources Symposium at the The Brighton Thistle Hotel, Brighton, on 24 to 26 April 1995. DSB Special Batteries Ltd manufactured and marketed battery packs and rechargers for the military, industrial and commercial markets in the United Kingdom.

In 1997 the company was taken over by AEA Technology Systems. Now working for AEA, Halligen began research and development on Lithium-ion batteries. AEA Technology later won contracts with the Ministry of Defence, providing batteries for the Army's Bowman Battlefield System and French Military thermal imaging cameras, for ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’ (i.e. drones, ot UAVs) for the US Departments of Homeland Security and Defense (unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs) and for NASA, including contracts for the Mars Landing Mission in 2003 and the first Comet Landing Mission.

AEA Technology Space, a partner company of AEA Technology Systems, later became ABSL Space Products and was later under a direct contract from government arms supplier QinetiQ to supply of rechargeable (secondary) Lithium-ion batteries.

In June 1996 June (aged 34), Halligen wrote a highly technical article on rechargeable batteries whilst working for DCB Special Batteries: http://www.latestproducts.info/techarchive/articles/2008/12/rechargeable-batteries-in-portable-applications/

In 2000, 29 February, his later friend and partner Henri Herman Exton, QPM Grade 7, Ministry of Defence, was awarded the O.B.E.

Approx 1998 onwards to 2003 (aged late 30s), Halligen worked for Cap Gemini and the Ernst and Young and later for Cap Gemini Ernst and Young when the two firms merged. These were defence and aerospace contractors. Halligen advised the Ministry of Defence and the government on ‘Business and Contracting Strategy’.

In 2000, Halligen becomes Company Secretary of Jungor Thames Valley Ltd. The company is owned by Linda O’Connell and operates from the handsome and extensive grounds of ‘Stanenorr in rural Normandy’ near Guildford. The company provides catering equipment, marquees and furniture for events. Halligen has no shares in the company and is not appointed Director. It is not a remunerated position, and the fact he doesn't sign the annual return suggests this is a casual arrangement (having shares would incur income tax liabilities on his Cap Gemini job). The address Halligen provides is Stable Cottage, Thursley Road in Elstead. The cottage is just 30 minutes’ drive from Cap Gemini headquarters in Woking and is within yards of the MOD and British Army's Longmoor Training Estate on Elstead and Hankley Common (source: Jongor Annual Return, October 2000).

2003 February (aged 41) – Halligen appointed Director at the Inkerman Group by Sir John Walker and the rest of the board. Sir John Walker later says he regretted appointing Halligen. Halligen became the Chief Executive Officer of Inkerman Global, and also Executive Technical Director of The Inkerman Group. An announcement at the time suggested that “Kevin will focus on technology-centric issues and his prime task will be to roll out and deliver the revolutionary Minerva Programme, which addresses all facets of the multi-layered threat faced by Industry and Government in the post-September 11 era”.

RESIGNATIONS FROM INKERMAN

(a) In the summer of 2002, Halligen and Major General John Holmes (ex Director of Special Forces) were recruited by Gerald Moore and Sir John Walker of Inkerman Group specifically for the ‘Minerva Programme’ (anti-terrorist, emergency response project performed in association with QinetiQ, the UK government defence agency).

(b) In January 2003, John Holmes leaves abruptly, after little more than 6 months at Inkerman ,to work on ‘Project Unicorn’ for the Metropolitan Police with Nicola Heath and Paul Cardew.

(c) Kevin Halligen resigns from Inkerman on 31 August 2003, allegedly following a drunken outburst, some eight months after Holmes’ resignation.

(d) On 27 August 27th 2003, a few days before Halligen resigns, Tim Craig-Harvey (still working at Inkerman), Natasha Duval and Kevin Halligen register a company to be known as The Chimera Partnership, using an address used by General Major John Holmes on his SOE application - 15 St Botolph Street, London.

In an article discussing the above, ‘Blackwatch’ wrote: “Kevin Halligen and John Holmes used Inkerman's 1 Cornhill Head Office address as their contact address for SOE International Ltd, while Tim Craig-Harvey also used Inkerman’s Cornhill address when registering the Red Defence website. Inkerman continued using the 1 Cornhill address until January 2005. Why both Halligen and Holmes still used the Inkerman office during this time isn't clear, especially when several parties alleged that Halligen's drunken departure from Inkerman was so emphatic and acrimonious.

March 2004 – Kevin Halligen receives a much-prized U.S. Department of Defense pass, valid until February 2005.

On 5 April 2004, Halligen set up a new firm, SOE International, with General Major John Holmes, former Director of Special Forces) and Nicola Heath (‘Terror Psychology Advisor’) – Company Ref. No. 5094037. General John Holmes and Nicola Heath had worked on ‘Project Unicorn’ for the Met Police. It was given ‘Non-Trading’ status.

The same year he established The Chimera Partnership with Tim Craig-Harvey and Natasha Duval.

On 30th July 2004 Tim Craig-Harvey, Natasha Duval and Halligen set up Red Defence Ltd (Company No. 05193728). It remained a dormant company for much of its lifetime.

On 19 August 2004 Nicola Heath and Major General John Holmes set up SOE Academy Ltd (No. 5210093).

On 19 January 2005, (aged 43), the domain name RedDefence.com is registered by Halligen and his friend Tim Craig-Harvey; the administrative address is given as 1 Cornhill, London, the address given by the Inkerman Group, although Halligen had by now ceased working for them.

On 17 March 2005 Halligen and Tim Craig-Harvey registered a second ‘Red Defence’ company: Red Defence International Ltd (Company No. 05396823). Tim Craig-Harvey becomes Company Secretary and Director and provides the contact address: Flat 2, 113A Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6HJ.

In 2005 or 2006 (aged 44) – Halligen obtained the contract to work for Trafigura, in which it is said that he promised to free two captive Trafigura staff in Ivory Coast, after allegations they had dumped toxic waste there, injuring or even killing many Africans in the process. Halligen was unsuccessful in his mission. Trafigura were represented by leading libel firm Carter-Ruck.

2007 - Halligen apparently describing himself as LLP/Attorney, working for Patton Boggs.

2007, 3 May (aged 45) – Madeleine reported missing

From 22 to 26 July, Gerry McCann visited the U.S. capital, Washington D.C. Among those he met was Senator Richard Shelby. The Forensic Science prepared their final report on the forensics for the McCann investigation iin March 2008. In March 2008, immediately he was offered the Madeleine McCann contract, Halligen’s business partners Andre Hollis (then Oakley’s CEO and President of Van Sycoyoc) were [url=http://foreignlobbying.org/registrant/Van Scoyoc Associates/]lobbying the US Senate and House of Representatives on behalf of the U.K. Forensic Science Service, and met [/url]Shelby. Shelby’s 2008 election campaign was robustly supported by QinetiQ North America and Patton Boggs. As payback for this support, Shelby awarded QinetiQ North America a contract worth around £5 million to provide work on behalf of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile, Research, Development and Engineering Centre. Former Managing Director of QinetiQ, Simon Bennett, took over the Forensic Science Service at this time (April 2008).

November 2007 - Oakley Strategic Services LLC is founded in the U.S. by Colonel Ken Irish III. Halligen is recruited as Director. (In 2008, the company was one of several National Security specialists to contribute to a workshop entitled: 'Shariah Law and [url=https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/Downloads/In 2008 the company was one of several National Security specialists to contribute to a workshop entitled, 'Shariah, Law and %C2%91Financial Jihad%C2%92: How Should America Respond]Financial Jihad: How Should America Respond[/url]?'. The workshop was co-sponsored by The McCormick Foundation and The Center for Security Policy. Both Nickolas Abramo, Oakley’s Director of Operations and Ken Irish, Oakley’s registered owner, attended the workshop. The company said it “assessed the risks and dangers posed by Shariah-Compliant Finance (SCF) and the indirect impact the phenomenon might have on human rights”.

2007, sometime between June and December, Halligen forms the Oakley International Group LLC in the U.S., apparently together with Andre Hollis (Vice President of Van Sycoyoc and regular Fox News commentator), Tim Unruh (from Patton Boggs) and probably Colonel John Garrett (also of Patton Boggs). The initial date of registration appears to have been as late as 12 February 2008. It was set up as a Foreign Limited Liability Company, trading in defence & aeronautical search and navigations systems and equipment. On the face of it, it had no connection whatsoever with searching for missing people or children nor even with the spheres of private investigation and detection. Records searched on the internet recently show that Oakley International appear not to be trading and that Kevin Halligen is the sole owner.

2008, probably March (aged 46), appointed as private investigator by the Directors of the Find Madeleine Fund; paid £500,000 plus expenses. During this time he is described by the Washington Post as “staying in a Willard Hotel suite for months at a time, drinking the days away at pricey Georgetown restaurants…travelling everywhere in a chauffeur-driven Lincoln Town Car”.

2008 August (Aged 47) Sacked by the Directors of Madeleine’s Fund after a blazing row

2009 February (Aged 47) – Changes his address to ‘The Beeches’, Henley Park, Cobbett Hill Road, Normandy, Guildford, Surrey GU3 2BZ, which has been the home of Julia Lynne Powell since 1999. It is another of Halligen’s girlfriends Kevin R Halligen (Patton Boggs LLP/Attorney),

2009 3 April – Kevin Halligen and Tim Craig-Harvey set up a company called VIGIL LIMITED, at 5th Floor, 26-28 Great Portland Street, London W1W 8AS (Company No. 06868379).

2009 9 April – Lawsuit RYECROFT CONSULTANTS SA v. HALLIGEN filed. By this time Halligen is described as ‘on the run’

2009 October – Arrested at Hotel, Oxfordshire, following a tip-off

2010 22 December (Aged 49) Kevin Halligen was ordered to be extradited to the USA by the Home Secretary.

2011 21 June – His appeal against that decision was rejected by the High Court as he, through his solicitors, did not submit a correct notice of appeal in time.

2013 27 June (Aged 51) – After pleading guilty in the U.S. to the charges against him, is released, having already served nearly 4 years in prison - and returned to live in Dublin.

2018 8 January: 2017 Found dead in highly mysterious circumstances.

See BBC News report below:

KEVIN HALLIGEN FOUND DEAD

A private detective accused of siphoning off money that had been donated to try to find Madeleine McCann has died.

Kevin Halligen, 56, was taken ill at his home in Normandy, Guildford, last Monday. Surrey Police said the death was being treated as unexplained.
He had denied misusing funds intended to aid the search for Madeleine, who went missing in Portugal in May 2007.
Halligen subsequently spent time in jail in the US over an unrelated fraud.
Adrian Gatton, a TV director and investigative journalist, who made a documentary with Halligen in 2014, confirmed his death to the Press Association, saying he had not been in good health.
In Madeleine's shadow
"There was blood around the house, probably caused by previous falls when he was either drunk or blacking out," he said.

'Gross distortion'

"His house was full of empty drink bottles. A lot of people wished him ill but his death is almost certainly related to alcoholism."
Allegations that Mr Halligen had misused the McCann funds began to surface in widespread national newspaper reports in the summer of 2008.
In Mr Gatton's documentary for Channel 5, entitled The McCanns and The Conman, My Halligen denied any wrongdoing.
He claimed the media reports were a "gross distortion of what was actually happening".
He added: "The print media in particular took this line that really nothing was being done; I was living the high life on the proceeds of the McCann case.
"Trust me, I didn't so much as buy a new suit... The money, all of it, is fully accountable. It's provable."
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley in Leicestershire, used Halligen's firm to look for their daughter, who went missing in Praia da Luz in the Algarve aged three.
Image copHis Washington-based firm, Oakley International, was paid about £300,000 for a six-month contract, which saw the company hire other private detectives, set up a hotline and process information.
The firm had initially been awarded a £500,000 contract but the McCanns terminated the arrangement before paying any more fees, apparently because Halligen failed to fulfil certain agreements.
In 2012, the Irish national was extradited to the US to face charges over an unrelated £1.3m fraud to which he pleaded guilty the following year.
He was sentenced to 41 months and deported from the country soon after because of the time he had already spent in prison.
A Surrey Police spokesman said: "We were called to an address in Cobbett Hill Road, Normandy, on Monday following a report of a man in his 50s having been taken unwell, who subsequently died.
"The death is being treated as unexplained and a file will be passed to the coroner's office in due course."

Note: I acknowledge the assistance of past articles by 'Blackwatch' in compiling this biography - TB

-----------------

The programme is to be called: 'The McCanns and the Conman'. Or 'The Man who Conned the McCanns'.

But, given his employment history (above), can he be dismissed merely as a con-man and fraudster? Does his career not, rather, suggest that he might have played a role as a high-level ‘fixer’, arranger and negotiator in the murky world of defence contracts?

The 'spin' on Halligen and the truly giant sum of £500,000 plus expenses he was apparently paid by the McCann Team is this:

“Poor old McCanns. Sincere, but terribly naive. Desperate to do whatever they could to find Madeleine, but made an expensive mistake etc. etc.”

The programme has been trailed as one in which we may find that Halligen has actually helped Operation Grange in their search for the truth (however unlikely it may seem).

But let us suppose for a moment that ‘The McCanns and the Conman’ has been prepared by true, fearless investigative journalists, dedicated to telling their viewers how as much as £600,000-£700,000 - donated by pensioners' weekly pensions, childrens' pocket money etc. etc. - was ‘conned’ out of a grieving couple.

And suppose also that we are going to get an accurate picture of Halligen’s very extensive work over two decades in the world of the defence industry in both the U.K. and the U.S.

We would surely expect, then, to see a full and fair account of his employment history.

And we would surely expect to see all the following sorts of questions about Kevin Halligen’s precise role on behalf of the McCann Team to be raised - and answered:

* At what point did you decide to give up on Metodo 3, and Gary Hagland, or no longer use them full-time?

* Why?

* Was it anything to do with the arrest in February 2008 of one of Metodo 3's Madeleine investigators, Antonio Jiminez Raso, on serious criminal charges?

* What other firms of security/intelligence/search agencies apart from Halligen's Oakley did you contact?

* Why did you reject them?

* What was the first you knew about Halligen?

* Which one of the Fund's Directors first knew or contacted him?

* Who did the background checks on him?

* What did these background checks reveal?

* Were you aware of his dishonest role in the Trafigura scandal?

* What was the nature of the interview process for Halligen?

* Who actually interviewed him for the job?

* What was the precise nature of the contract?

* Was the contract in writing?

* When was the first payment made to Halligen?

* In fact, is there any proof that any payment was made direct to Halligen, or did payments go via one of Brian Kennedy's many holding companies?

* How much was the first payment?

* On what date was it paid?

* What other payments were made and on what dates?

* On what precise dates did Halligen report to Brian Kennedy, the McCanns or any of the Directors about his results?

* What did he tell them?

* To what extent did each single Director take part in the various decisions to seek, appoint , monitor and supervise Halligen?

* Has each Director been asked by the TV company what their knowledge is of the origin and genesis of the Halligen fiasco?

Unless these and similar questions are asked and dealt with in the programme, it cannot be a proper exposure of...

...HOW (allegedly) THE McCANNS WERE CONNED

-------------------

Original thread: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t9724-the-mccanns-and-the-conman-1-the-biography-of-kevin-halligen-2-a-checklist-of-questions-for-tonight-s-channel-5-programme-to-answer

by **Jill Havern** 23.04.19 9:48

An intelligence insider gives inside information about the content of the Halligen programme ('The McCanns and the Conman')

by Tony Bennett on 07.06.14 10:04

Giving this a separate thread because of its importance in the whole case.

It comes from someone with very good intelligence contacts in the U.S. and U.K. who has supplied a great deal of fully reliable information in the past - and who has a very genuine commitment to finding out what really happened to Madeleine McCann:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I'm sure you saw the documentary, yes?

What a load of old cobblers.

‘Poor old Kevin’.

But that's what he signed up for, I suppose.

Three major issues I would take up with the producers.

1. Fake DOD pass claim.

In 2008 Andre Hollis - President of Van Scoyoc and CEO of Halligan's Oakley International Group - lobbied the US Senate and the Department of Justice on behalf of Halligan's other US business interest - Oakley Strategic Services (owned by decorated US Pentagon adviser, Colonel Ken Irish) at a cost of $20,000 and £5,000 during the period March - April 2008.
Hollis lobbied senate on issues relating to strategic training and consulting services at the Department of Defense Appropriations (this is within weeks of Halligan being hired by the McCanns).

Brian Penda and H Stewart of Van Scoyoc also contributed. Oakley SS (Co. no. 76683897), was registered in November 2007.

No need for a fake pass. KH was very much in the defence loop - even as far back as 2003 when he represented Inkerman/Qinetiq & AEA

2. Did Kevin Halligen’s companies just produce batteries for ‘boilers’?

Channel 5 doc also dismissed KH as having worked on batteries for 'boiler systems' during the troubles?

KH actually worked for DSB Special Batteries during the latter part of 'the troubles'. Here he is in Brighton in 1995:

http://www.rxn.com/~uffda/archive/faq/electro.faq

The Brighton session he attended was chaired by 'Dr Barry Lakeman' of the Defence Research Agency - a branch of the MOD until late 1995 (now the DSTL). Halligen presented a paper on Aqueous Rechargeable Batteries. Initially, these were tasked primarily for electric vehicles, before ending up in products like laptops and telecommunication equipment (this is broadly 'fuel cell research')

DSB Special Batteries Ltd, based in Crawley, West Sussex (near Halligen’s home in Surrey), manufactured and marketed battery packs and rechargers for the military, industrial and yes, the commercial markets in the United Kingdom. But it was Lithium batteries that he ended up specialising in.

In 1997 the company was taken over by AEA Technology Systems.

Halligen began research and development on Lithium Ion batteries. Yes, they are used in loads of consumer products (including 'boilers') but they are also used in no end of military hardware (unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) etc).
Inevitably, AEA Technology went on to win contracts with the Ministry of Defence (providing batteries for the Army's Bowman Battlefield System and French Military thermal imaging cameras), the US Departments of Homeland Security and Defense (unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs) and NASA (Mars Landing Mission in 2003 and the first Comet Landing Mission).

Given that Halligan was working with Ken Irish at Oakley SS and given his being hired by Inkerman for work on MOD/Qinetiq projects it seems far more likely his work had matured considerably from 'boliers' (a period of 'maturation' that had started at Cap Gemini Erst and Young).

The ‘McCanns and the Conman’ programme deliberately left out what a high-level player Halligan was, and continues to be, in British government and intelligence circles.

3. Henri Exton

As I advised you before, Exton was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal, Grade 7, and on 29 February 2000 received the order of the British Empire from Her Majesty the Queen. This is no middle grade security services player; he was - as is on the record - formerly the Head of MI5’s Covert Intelligence Section – and you don’t get much higher than that.

At the end of the programme, they slipped in Exton’s 2 e-fits, supposedly prepared from talking to the Smiths. Exton talked to the Smiths all right, in 2008, but neither of those two e-fits were compiled by the Smiths. That should be obvious because all of them admit they never saw his face properly. They were generated by Exton from another source. DCI Redwood knows this fine well.

ENDS
----------
For discussion, please visit this thread: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t9765-an-intelligence-insider-gives-inside-information-about-the-content-of-the-halligen-programme-the-mccanns-and-the-conman