Re: The Mark Williams-Thomas thread

[Guest]

How I Exposed Jimmy Savile | Minutes With | @LADbible TV

1 year ago

14:23 minutes

[Guest]

Man who exposed Jimmy Saville has a new theory about Madeleine McCann's disappearance

17th November 2022

He says he's pored over the evidence and come to one conclusion

The man who exposed Jimmy Saville for his sick crimes says he has a new theory about Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

Investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas has set his sights on the mysterious episode that has dominated front pages since 2007 - and says he has a new working hypothesis.

A man from Germany has become the latest suspect in the case having been allegedly involved in five offences between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal.

McCann went missing in 2007, and investigators believe he is responsible.

However, Williams-Thomas, who was responsible for exposing Jimmy Savile, thinks he has a different idea of what happened having pored over the evidence and spoken to a number of witnesses.

Speaking to LADbible, he said: "So when I looked at Madeleine McCann... I brought all the information together, read all the police files, I spoke to all those key witnesses around there, and I had a contact via one person removed from the family, and so I was able to pull all this information together.

"And my conclusion is that on that night of Madeleine's disappearance, she woke up, looking for mum and dad, and she'd been told the following morning that if she were to wake up, the parents were only in the tapas bar, which was just across the courtyard.

"What we do know is that her brother and sister had woken up on the previous nights a number of times, and I suspect as a result of that, Madeleine thought, well, where is mum and dad, as they'd been out on those previous nights as well."

Williams-Thomas went on: "So I believe she woke up, she left the apartment, we know the apartment was insecure, the back patio door was open to allow some flow of air, it was very hot.

"And so I believe she got up and went wandering looking for her parents."

Williams-Thomas explained that Maddie would have had to have gone out onto a main road in order to get around to the courtyard, where her parents were.

And citing two infamous cases in the UK - Genette Tate, who vanished in 1978, and Sarah Payne, who was murdered in 2000 - Thomas explained that it was most likely an unplanned abduction.

He said: "What we know about abductions is when they are stranger abductions, they are opportunistic.

"If you abduct a child and you know who that child is, which is the majority of child abductions, then, of course, that's planned and you know who the child is.

"But when it's opportunistic, when it's not somebody known to the child, that is not planned, in terms of who the victim is."

Adding: "So I believe she walked out on the road, and in a matter of seconds, was abducted by a predator outside."

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[Guest]

The latest update expands on the initial report..

Man who exposed Jimmy Savile says FBI data tells him Madeleine McCann likely 'dead in 72 hours'

Dominic Smithers

Published 15:33, 17 November 2022 GMT
| Last updated 17:37, 17 November 2022 GMT

For over 15 years, police have been searching for Madeleine McCann.

Just three years old at the time, Maddie disappeared from her parent's apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May, 2007.

Parents Kate and Gerry had been enjoying a meal with some friends at a tapas restaurant in their apartment complex that night, and when Kate returned to the apartment to check in on their children, she found that her eldest daughter had gone.

But with no sign of an intruder, police have struggled ever since, despite a number of leads and alleged sightings, to track her down.

Mark Williams-Thomas is an investigative journalist who helped uncover Jimmy Savile's horrific crimes.

Speaking to LADbible for the Extraordinary Lives podcast, he said he pored over the evidence and concluded that Maddie will probably never be found.

The 52-year-old said the most likely scenario is that Maddie woke up in the middle of the night, wondering where her parents were, and went out to look for them.

"What we do know is that her brother and sister had woken up on the previous nights a number of times, and I suspect as a result of that, Madeleine thought, well, where is mum and dad, as they'd been out on those previous nights as well."

He went on: "So I believe she woke up, she left the apartment, we know the apartment was insecure, the back patio door was open to allow some flow of air, it was very hot.

"And so I believe she got up and went wandering looking for her parents."

However, citing a couple of high profile cases - Genette Tate, who vanished in 1978, and Sarah Payne, who was murdered in 2000 - Williams-Thomas said he believes Maddie was snatched and killed within a matter of hours.

He told us: "Evidence tells us, through the FBI child abduction manual, which is very detailed and very good, because they've got 10 times the child abductions/stranger-child abductions as we've had in the UK, that she would have been dead within 72 hours."

And when asked whether he thought we will ever find out what happened to her once and for all, Williams-Thomas said he believed it was unlikely.

"Sadly, I think it's probably unlikely," he said. "But I always use the caveat that we have to remain positive that one day we will."

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[Guest]

"Evidence tells us, through the FBI child abduction manual, which is very detailed and very good, because they've got 10 times the child abductions/stranger-child abductions as we've had in the UK, that she would have been dead within 72 hours."

I guess this theory at least explains why the stranger abduction theory continues to run, despite there being no evidence to support that theory. Now we have an opportunistic strange-err abduction - a chance abductor lurking on the streets of Luz on the off chance of someone or thing to abduct being in the vicinity?

Jane Tanner?

No doubt Mark Williams-Thomas has a theory to cover all eventualities. The phantom lurker had been watching apartment 5a every day and night (read witness statements) in the hope that a very young child might go for a midnight ramble.

[PeterMac]

Just another of Kate's "coincidences" ?

A random predatory Paed*** with nothing better to do on an exact cold Thursday evening in early May
happens upon the exact back street, outside the exact garden gate, out of which at the exact time, timed to the second, 
an exact blond 3 year old girl who has been abandoned by both exact parents, chooses to exit.
At an exact moment when he is unobserved by anyone, despite the parents of all the children passing and re-passing
more than ten times in the space of an hour, and despite there being at LEAST two other members of the public, one
carrying a child, one with a child in the pushchair, also passing and re-passing and generally meandering about in the 
general vicinity .. .

Just another coincidence ?

[Guest]

No doubt there was will be a convenient witness to say the right things about the right time - if Mark Williams-Thomas talks to the right people.

I'll wager his distant informant was none other than *trumpet    fanfare* .... Clarence Mitchell.

After all said and done, he knows - he was there.

[crusader]

There is no doubt in my mind if Madeleine had gone out of the apartment looking for her parents, she would have been shouting at the top of her lungs for her Daddy.

If Mrs Fenn is to believed, she said she heard Madeleine shouting and crying for her Daddy on Tuesday night, so there is no way she would be wandering around quietly outside .

[Guest]

It doesn't make any sense does it, just baseless waffle.

According to Ms Healy, Madeleine adored the twins - would she go wandering off into the night leaving them behind?  Even if she did, why wait until the night of Thursday 3rd May when she and her brother and sister had been left alone every night from Sunday onwards - allegedly.

Madeleine must have been very mature if the parents thought her responsible enough to care for her siblings, babysit so to speak.

Far be it from me to suggest Mark Williams-Thomas take a look at all the documented evidence before embarking on a magical mystery tour of speculation based on nothing but a desired effect!

[Guest]

I don't wish to be too scathing about Mark Williams-Thomas, I understand he has been dealing with personal mental health issues - which could explain his random thought processes about the case of Madeleine McCann and other criminal cases he has tried to claim as his own personal achievements.

He should however quietly leave the stage. The world's camera lens is still focused on Madeleine McCann - it's shameful how he's allowed to spread false information for world consumption.

Freedom of speech? Bah!

[CaKeLoveR]

Cynic that I am, suspicion raises its head when some people claim mental health issues. Sometimes, it's used as an excuse, should there be a backlash. Yes, he should quietly leave the stage.

[PeterMac]

I don't wish to be too scathing about Mark Williams-Thomas, I understand he has been dealing with personal mental health issues - 

Perhaps he is beginning to realise he is about to be found out.
He is a fraud.
Perhaps a new chapter ?

[Guest]

A fraud of the highest order, as I said he should quietly leave the stage.

[Guest]

[Guest]

Make of it what you will..

How a self-promoting TV detective, obsessed with celebrity sex abusers, helped police ruin the lives of Sir Cliff and a string of other famous faces... who all turned out to be TOTALLY INNOCENT

Sir Cliff Richard, Jim Davidson, Freddie Starr and Lord Brittan accused of abuse 
TV ‘detective’ Mark Williams-Thomas publicised names of high profile suspects
He was the source of up to 20 suspects’ names submitted to Operation Yewtree
Release of names at the early stage of the police ‘tainted the whole investigation'
Top detective said it created the presumption of guilt and 'ruined innocent lives’

By David Rose and Rosie Waterhouse For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 23:15, 3 November 2018 | Updated: 16:24, 23 November 2018

Question: What do the entertainers Sir Cliff Richard, Jim Davidson and Freddie Starr, as well as the late former Home Secretary Lord Brittan, have in common?

Answer: They have all lived – and in the case of Lord Brittan, died – under the shadow of being falsely accused of historical sexual abuse, although none of them was ever charged with a crime, much less convicted.

And in every case their names have been dragged through the mud thanks in part to the actions of one man, a former policeman turned award-winning TV ‘detective’ called Mark Williams-Thomas.

Williams-Thomas was the man behind ITV’s 2012 documentary revealing the late Jimmy Savile was a paedophile.

Since then he has become a regular fixture on This Morning and presenter of further documentaries, including The Investigator, made by Simon Cowell’s company Syco.

Savile, of course, became a touchstone for a widespread belief that numerous powerful paedophiles had been allowed to get away with terrible crimes. 

Understandably, perhaps, the author of Savile’s posthumous downfall became determined to build on this first success.

But a major investigation by this newspaper today poses a troubling question: in his zeal to claim further scalps did Williams-Thomas help ruin the lives of a string of famous men who turned out to be totally innocent?

For Williams-Thomas has openly boasted that he was the source of up to 20 suspects’ names being submitted to Operation Yewtree, the sprawling, multi-million-pound Metropolitan Police inquiry into alleged abuse by celebrities established after the Savile film.

Then, when he learned that officers planned to investigate particular individuals, he publicised their names, even though police inquiries were at an early stage.

The credibility he derived from the Savile documentary meant his information had a massive media impact. In some cases, he issued regular breathless ‘updates’ on police inquiries.

The result, according to one of Britain’s top detectives with experience of investigating historical abuse, was a fiasco which ‘tainted the whole investigation, created a presumption of guilt, and ruined innocent people’s lives’.

Williams-Thomas yesterday claimed The Mail on Sunday investigation was ‘littered with incorrect information’, but when asked what this was, he refused to answer.

Former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Paul Settle headed a parallel inquiry into claims of abuse by politicians – including Lord Brittan – running at the same time as Yewtree.

His staff were based in the same, open-plan office in Hammersmith, West London, as some of the Yewtree team. He says he directly experienced the extraordinary efforts made by Williams-Thomas to influence both investigations.

‘Operation Yewtree seemed to have a policy of arresting first and asking questions later,’ Mr Settle told The Mail on Sunday.

‘Their attitude seemed to be, “There’s been an allegation, go and nick him”, before they had even done the basics, such as establishing whether the accuser and the suspect had been in the same country at the relevant time.’

Then, Mr Settle says, the suspect’s name would be publicised. This, the ex-detective says, was ‘reckless in the extreme. If you put famous people’s names out there, you may not merely destroy their livelihoods. There’s a great danger it will lead to a bandwagon effect, generating further, false allegations, so the potential for miscarriages of justice is huge.’

The most prominent Yewtree victim of all was Sir Cliff Richard, whose name was leaked to the BBC – not by Williams-Thomas – allowing the broadcaster to air footage of the raid on his Berkshire apartment in 2014.

The singer faced two years of anguish before finally learning he was not going to be charged.

This newspaper has established that one of Sir Cliff’s accusers, a man known as ‘David’, had already been exhaustively investigated by Mr Settle and his team, and found to be a suggestible, vulnerable fantasist. David, who had learning difficulties and had been in care, told them he was raped as a boy by both Sir Cliff and Elton John at a sex party, at which media baron Rupert Murdoch and former Labour deputy leader Lord Prescott were also guests.

‘Needless to say, this didn’t happen,’ Mr Settle said.

Yet the South Yorkshire investigation into Sir Cliff took David seriously. Legal sources have confirmed that although the Met had already decided he was not a reliable witness, South Yorkshire detectives – who took over the Cliff Richard investigation from Yewtree – treated him as a ‘victim’.

David has told the MoS they interviewed him several times, and asked him to give evidence against Sir Cliff. Unaccountably, Mr Settle’s conclusion that he was not a reliable witness was apparently not passed on to South Yorkshire.

And the name of the man who triggered the police inquiry by telling Operation Yewtree that he had evidence that Sir Cliff had sexually abused a child? Mark Williams-Thomas. He has boasted about it in a series of tweets.

On August 17, 2014, three days after the BBC used a helicopter to film the raid on Sir Cliff’s apartment, Williams-Thomas was already claiming credit for it. ‘Some media reports are misleading,’ he tweeted. ‘I passed the original allegation and other info to Op Yewtree in 2013.’

Williams-Thomas, 48, spent 11 years with Surrey Police, leaving in 2000 with the lowly rank of detective constable. He later spent two years working for a firm that removed chewing gum from pavements.

But his real goal was to make it in television. And starting by acting as adviser to crime dramas, he gradually began to get work.

His lucky break came when he found himself on a plane next to BBC journalist Meirion Jones, who asked him to help with a Newsnight film on Savile, which the BBC eventually, and controversially, axed.

Williams-Thomas took the story to ITV and won national acclamation and a string of awards.

In the post-Savile frenzy about other alleged celebrity abusers, Williams-Thomas boasted he was ‘working closely’ with Operation Yewtree, and was ‘sharing new leads and contact details for victims’. He claimed he had a ‘dossier’ featuring a ‘catalogue’ of allegations against about 20 suspects, including ‘some household names’.

In some cases, he stated, his information had already led to arrests – though he has not specified whose.

Celebrities investigated as a result of allegations to Operation Yewtree who were never charged include not only Sir Cliff but also Freddie Starr, Jim Davidson, Jimmy Tarbuck and Paul Gambaccini. The latter has been awarded ‘substantial’ damages by the Crown Prosecution Service, and is suing the police.

Publication of suspects’ names by police in cases like Operation Yewtree would now breach professional guidelines issued by the College of Policing, which say that if a name is released before charge, there must be ‘exceptional circumstances’. However, seasoned detectives say that the guidelines merely enshrine procedures which were already well established in the period 2012 to 2014, when Yewtree was at its height.

One former detective said: ‘The only time you release a suspect’s name before charge is if you don’t have the evidence to charge and there’s a real danger to the public. Otherwise, you just don’t do it – it’s reckless and unethical.’

Freddie Starr

Tweeted 24 minutes after comic’s arrest

WILLIAMS-THOMAS had close contacts with several newspapers, but his weapon of choice when breaking the news of celebrity arrests was Twitter.

His first came at 18.09 on November 1, 2012: ‘Breaking: Freddie Starr under arrest [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]’ he announced – the hashtag ensuring that readers would know exactly what type of investigation Starr was facing.

The stature conferred on Williams-Thomas by the Savile film meant his tweet was swiftly followed up by the BBC and every newspaper. The Met then put out a statement which confirmed that a ‘man in his 60s from Warwickshire was arrested at approximately 17.45 on suspicion of sexual offences and taken into custody’.

The arrest took place just 24 minutes before Williams- Thomas’s tweet.

Williams-Thomas issued further tweets about Starr as police inquiries progressed. ‘Freddie [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] arrest which I broke yesterday dominates front pages,’ he tweeted on November 2, going on to add fresh details: ‘He was bailed after approx 6 hours in custody [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].’

Later that day he added an update, saying Starr was still being interviewed ‘as a continuation’ of his previous interrogation. More tweets followed over the ensuing months as Starr faced the agony of waiting on bail, not knowing whether he would be charged. It wasn’t for another 18 months that he learnt he wouldn’t be. By then, his wife had left him and his physical and mental health were wrecked.

Jim Davidson

WRONGLY LINKED to Jimmy Savile

ANOTHER celebrity probed by Yewtree whose near-downfall was announced by Williams- Thomas was comedian Jim Davidson. Unlike most of the inquiry’s targets, he was accused of sexually assaulting adult women, but that did not stop Williams-Thomas making the link with Jimmy Savile.

In a tweet posted at 19.16 on January 2, 2013, eight hours after news of the arrest broke in the media, he wrote: ‘I can confirm that one of the entertainers arrested today by Op Yewtree is Jim Davidson [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].’

Other supposed ‘victims’ came forward after the ensuing flood of publicity, but eight months after his arrest, Davidson was told he would not face any charges.

In a book that he wrote about his ordeal, he said he first learnt of this not from the police or Crown Prosecution Service but a reporter, who told him the source was ‘the ex-detective that did the TV programme exposing Savile’s behaviour’.

Lord Brittan

GAVE SECRET ADIVCE TO fantasist

AT THE end of February 2013, Williams-Thomas told a newspaper he was investigating sexual abuse by a ‘very significant individual’ at Elm Guest House in Barnes, South-West London. By this time, claims had been circulating on the internet that in the 1980s this had been a ‘gay brothel’ where children were abused, and that among those who stayed there were Sir Cliff and Leon Brittan, the former Tory Home Secretary.

One of their sources was a former social worker and convicted fraudster called Chris Fay. He had been trying to spread claims about Elm Guest House and ‘VIP paedophiles’ for many years. In 1990 he introduced ‘David’ – the fantasist who went on to accuse Sir Cliff – to a journalist called Gill Priestly, now deceased. In a series of taped interviews with her, David made astonishing claims: that he had been sexually assaulted by Lord Brittan, and ‘trafficked’ to Amsterdam, where he was forced to watch as children were raped and murdered to make ‘snuff’ porn movies.

Police documents disclosed by the Crown Prosecution Service and seen by this newspaper say Priestly played her tapes to Williams-Thomas while he was a serving police officer. The papers say that at the time police took no action and that in 2002, after Williams-Thomas left the police, she gave some of her tapes to him for ‘safe keeping’.

In 2013, then Detective Chief Inspector Paul Settle’s team spent more than 70 hours interviewing David, who made many of the same allegations. But Mr Settle says: ‘We knew very quickly the Elm Guest House claims were nonsense. David was very vulnerable and very suggestible, and his allegations were sheer fantasy.’

His story about the ‘sex party’ with Sir Cliff, Elton John and Murdoch was, Mr Settle added, only one of many outlandish claims.

Then, in October 2013, the police records say, Williams-Thomas produced the tapes of Gill Priestly’s interviews with David. He approached Mr Settle’s boss, Detective Superintendent David Gray, and played them to him and a detective constable at the ITV studios. The full contents of the tapes have not been disclosed.

Mr Settle said: ‘We had already finished with David, but here was Williams-Thomas apparently trying to reincarnate him as a witness. It was quite apparent the tapes were the musings of a fantasist.’

However, others were taking David’s allegations seriously.

He was introduced to reporters from the now-defunct Exaro News website. This spectacularly unreliable witness became a source for multiple, lurid stories about the non-existent ‘Westminster paedophile ring’ used to support bogus claims of child rape and murder by Lord Brittan and others.

Eventually, these were debunked by a Panorama programme in 2015. David was to be one of its star witnesses, admitting he had made false allegations because he was suggestible and felt under pressure.

Williams-Thomas had promised to consider giving Panorama the Priestly tapes, but failed to do so, say BBC sources. Then, after David had been filmed, Williams-Thomas sent him an email, urging him either to insist on concealing his identity or not to appear at all, drafting messages that he suggested David should copy and send to the BBC.

‘DON’T tell the BBC we have spoken,’ he wrote, ‘just say you have spoken to a friend who has given you advice.’

Williams-Thomas refused to say why he sent this email. It is possible he believed he was acting in David’s best interests.

Sir Cliff

Attack ON POLICE WHEN star was cleared

AFTER claiming credit on Twitter for starting the police inquiry into Sir Cliff, Williams-Thomas did not appear to be anxious that publicity about the investigation might have irreparably damaged the reputation of an innocent and much-loved star.

In a further tweet, he noted the ‘incredible co-ordination btwn South Yorkshire press officer at scene and BBC so BBC chopper is in place to catch property removed’. It is not clear exactly what Williams-Thomas meant by this.

In other tweets that autumn, he was critical of the BBC filming the raid. Yet the story told by the first complainant against Sir Cliff, whose allegations had been given to Yewtree by Williams-Thomas, always seemed doubtful.

The man was claiming that Sir Cliff assaulted him in 1983 when he was 15 during a Billy Graham Christian rally in a room used to store goalposts at Bramall Lane, the Sheffield United Football Club ground.

In fact, it emerged when the claims were investigated that there was no Graham rally in Sheffield until 1985, and there was no room at Bramall Lane used to store goalposts. The man said the team’s colours were blue and white, which belong to Sheffield Wednesday, not Sheffield United, whose colours are red and white.

But Williams-Thomas continued to tweet about the case.

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[PeterMac]

WIKI ENTRY:

Mark Alan Williams-Thomas 9 January 1970 (age 52) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Essex, England

Background[[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]
Williams-Thomas was born in [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. He was educated at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], and later attended [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. In 1989, he joined [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. During his time with Surrey Police, he was a specialist in major crime and child abuse. He left the force in 2000.
Williams-Thomas completed his [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in criminology from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in 2007.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
In 2013 Williams-Thomas was awarded a Post Graduate Diploma (Honours) and master's degree (MA) in Criminology at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Police career[[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]
Williams-Thomas was a detective and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] from 1989 to 2000.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
On 27 November 1995, schoolgirl [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] aged 16 years went missing from her home in from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], near [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Surrey, England. Williams-Thomas was the family liaison officer for Wilson's case, stated that extensive searches across Box Hill had yielded no evidence to suggest she was killed or committed suicide. He also stated that he was sure Wilson was not abducted by a stranger. Williams-Thomas also stated; "From the experience I have had, I would suggest one of two things occurred. She either went up there to meet someone and has subsequently gone away, or she went there and died in some way."[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
In August 1997 Williams-Thomas was part of the investigation into child pornography found in the possession of school teacher Adrian Stark, the director of music at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Surrey, who committed suicide shortly after his arrest.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
In 2001, Williams-Thomas launched the investigation into the child abuse of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], leading to his successful conviction and imprisonment.[[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]
Between 2001 and 2002, Williams-Thomas was the marketing manager and a director of GumFighters,[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] a "national chewing gum removal specialist". The company were hired by various councils to clean their streets.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
In 2003, Williams-Thomas was charged with blackmailing a funeral home director, after alleging that there were multiple bodies buried in unmarked graves. An article ran in a national Sunday paper describing the mass burials. He was subsequently acquitted.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
In 2005, Williams-Thomas set up WT Associates, an independent child protection consultancy firm.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


LINKEDIN ENTRY:
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Police service has shifted by 2 years, adding one at each end.

Born Jan 1970, so Joined Police in 1989 on leaving school,
MINIMUM 2 years probation in uniform.
From other sources spent 9 years in uniform, and only got onto CID in 1998.
Resigned in 2000


BUT, if he left school after A levels age 18/19 in 1989 and joined the Police in 1989 when did he get his first degree at Birmingham City University ?
Or did he leave school in' 88, fail his first year and then join the police.

There is a lot more to this than meets the eye.

[Guest]

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[Guest]

Problem is with Williams-Thomas and other fraudsters out there who take it upon themselves to 'privately investigate' in public, people watch listen and hang- on to their every word.

I was looking for his tweets about his breakdown (if that's what it was), I'm astounded to read the emphatic adoration of his followers. It's like a cult brethren.

[Guest]

ITV & Netflix – The Investigator: Series ONE and Series TWO



Series (Season ONE) In a television first, Mark brought an explosive and ground-breaking new investigative series to ITV that showed how real-life crime could be far more compelling than fiction. The award-winning former police detective re-examines a previously ‘closed’ and chilling murder case, which has baffled detectives for more than thirty years. The murder of housewife and mother Carole Packman, whose body has never been found; yet her husband Russell Causley was convicted of her murder.

For over thirty years, Causley maintained his silence. That is until Mark began his investigation The murder of Carole Packman continues to affect the lives of so many, especially her daughter Samantha and grandson Neil. But as Mark starts to investigate the murder, he discovers the shocking tale of fraud, deceit and lies. In a UK television first, The Investigator: A British Crime Story, follows the case over four explosive episodes, combining stylised drama with compelling investigative documentary.

The Investigator has now been watched by well over 10 million people around the world and is currently available on Netflix as an Original. The Investigator: A British Crime Story is a Shiver and Syco co-production. As a result of Mark’s investigation and the new evidence he found, Dorset police have re-opened the investigation.



Series (Season) TWO Focuses on two serial killers episode 1 ‘ Peter Tobin’ and episodes 2 and 3 on ‘Angus Sinclair’ . The Investigator : A British Crime Story horrifies viewers as they learn of Angus Sinclair’s crimes. Series (Season) 1 & 2 can be viewed on Netflix worldwide.

Following on from the series Mark is continuing to work with the family of Jessie Earl to try to get the Coroners Inquest overturned and a new Inquest heard.

His ongoing work to help get justice for Mr & Mrs Earl was featured in a report by the Daily Telegraph in November 2018. Art student Jessie Earl disappeared 38 years ago… Has the mystery of her murder finally been solved? On the 11th March 2019 – serial killer Angus Sinclair, who I investigated in Series (Season) 2 died in HMP Glenochil, Scotland. The Investigator wrote to Angus Sinclair in jail in bid to get confession

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[Guest]

Mark Williams-Thomas: Without Savile exposure, Harris and Clifford victims would never have come forward

By William Turvill - August 26, 2014

It may be two years since Mark Williams-Thomas exposed the sex attack allegations against Jimmy Savile which had been ignored by the BBC with his ITV Exposure documentary.

But the ramifications of the story are still being felt. The Operation Yewtree police investigation into historic sex offences is ongoing and, in a separate inquiry, Sir Cliff Richard's home was recently searched by South Yorkshire Police after Williams-Thomas passed information on to the force.

Williams-Thomas, a police officer turned investigator/journalist (via a stint as an advisor for fictional crime programmes), proudly tells me that his Savile story remained on the front pages for 41 days after it was broadcast in October 2012.

Yewtree has led to more than a dozen arrests and two high-profile convictions (Rolf Harris and Max Clifford).

Last month Home Secretary Theresa May announced a child sex abuse inquiry that will look into churches, the BBC, political parties and other institutions.

Despite the fact he was on Savile’s trail before his death in late 2011, Williams-Thomas believes that if the star was still alive he would not yet have been exposed – and therefore the various other celebrities and high-profile figures caught in recent years would not have been either.

“No one would have broadcast that programme,” he tells me at Soho’s Groucho Club. He points out that as well as the BBC dropping its Newsnight investigation into Savile in December 2011 – which he worked on – the police also missed opportunities to catch the former Top Of The Pops presenter.

Williams-Thomas first heard of Savile’s abuse when working on another Newsnight story. It was on the aeroplane travelling back from Lyon, France, with producer Meirion Jones – whose aunt was headmistress at Duncroft School – where Savile is now widely known to have abused pupils.

“He said to me: ‘Have you heard about Jimmy Savile?’ And I said: ‘What do you mean?’ And he said: ‘Well, you know, he was a child abuser.’”

Williams-Thomas instantly wanted to investigate, but he says Jones told him that no one would touch the story. That changed a couple of months later when Savile died. Williams-Thomas was called in by Jones to be “an expert on how paedophiles operate” before the “editorial decision” was made to spike Newsnight’s investigation.

Rather than feeling bitter about the story being dropped at an early stage, Williams-Thomas saw this as an opportunity and asked Jones if he could take the story on. “Absolutely – please expose him,” Jones said.

After persuading ITV to consider the story – “they got it…but, I have to say, they were nervous” – Williams-Thomas, who was "not paid a penny" until the programme was made, linked up with freelance producer and director Lesley Gardiner, who sits in on part of this interview.

The two of them "followed a path" and by the time of broadcast, they had four victims and one witness of Savile’s abuse who were willing to speak.

Thanks, says Williams-Thomas, to the bravery of these women, the programme went ahead.

There have been negative repercussions – the investigator says he has received a letter bomb and child sex abuse material in the post – but the programme went on to win numerous awards and, Williams-Thomas believes, make a difference.

“The praise for this is for those five women,” he says. “If those five women hadn’t put their trust in me, and been brave enough to tell their story, then those many victims who have taken strength from that [wouldn’t have come forward].

“And I’ve talked to the victims in many of those [Operation Yewtree] court cases, and ongoing court cases now, and they personally say that if it hadn’t been for Savile’s exposure, they wouldn’t have come forward.”

As it is, Williams-Thomas believes his Savile story has led to a “sea change of culture, in the media, in the public, in the police, in the Crown Prosecution Service – across the board”.

Before embarking on his ten-month investigation into Savile, Williams-Thomas had worked on several other high-profile crime cases, including the murder of Sarah Payne when he worked for Surrey Police, and the murder of 12-year-old Tia Sharp, as a freelance journalist.

In the latter case, Williams-Thomas got an exclusive interview with Stuart Hazell, the schoolgirl’s murderer, before he was charged by police. This is part of the interview, which was broadcast on ITV News on the 9 August 2012:

“I knew at that point this was the interview with the killer,” says Williams-Thomas. “The more information he gave me, the easier the police’s job was – and that’s what the whole purpose was. I wanted the killer caught.”

He adds: “I just want people to tell me everything. And I wanted him to tell me everything in such detail that the police would then go back and say: ‘Is that right? Is that what you said?’”

What Williams-Thomas didn’t know was that Tia Sharp's body was in the attic of the house when he conducted his interview. An “inquisitive person” – “if you invited me to your house and I went to the toilet, I would go through your cupboards” – Williams-Thomas believes there is a chance he could have discovered her had Sharp’s family allowed him to go upstairs.

Asked how dealing with such horrific cases affects him personally, Williams-Thomas says: “I’ve seen the worst of the worst. I’ve seen children murdered, I’ve seen dead bodies, I’ve seen the worst scenarios, and I’ve seen horrific abuse that people wouldn’t even be able to contemplate.

“And does it upset me? Yeah, I continue to be upset. And it concerns me, and it worries me – and that in a way is what drives me to do what I do. I hope that I can try and make a difference. I can’t change the world, but I can help some people.

“And I’ll continue to do that as long as I can, as long as I have the ability to still expose people. And will I upset people? Yeah. But I hope the people that I upset are the baddies.”

Last month, he broke the news that retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss stepped down as head of the inquiry into child sex abuse, saying she was “not the right person” for the job.

Williams-Thomas, who has immersed himself in the stories the probe will concern itself with, feels this decision was right, but is concerned the inquiry will not fulfill its job. He describes Home Secretary Theresa May’s proposal for an “inquiry of previous inquiries" as "absolutely pointless”.

"If the Government gets it right, by appointing the right people to head up the inquiry, it will lift a lid on a number of powerful people who either are offenders or covered up”, he says.

In addition to this story, Williams-Thomas has broken a number of Operation Yewtree exclusives over the last couple of years – including the fact that Rolf Harris had been questioned by police in November last year, which he broke on Twitter. It took another five months for The Sun to claim a front-page “world exclusive” on the same news.

While Williams-Thomas had his Harris story double-sourced, newspapers and broadcasters struggled to get the story out, with police refusing to confirm his identity. Policeman turned journalist Williams-Thomas believes that those arrested for child sex abuse should be named in the media – but that the authorities need to build up a stronger case on alleged abusers before an arrest is made.

And what does he make of relations between those working in his former and current professions? “The relationship has now got better than it was, but there’s still a long way to go back to the way it was,” he says.

“Had it gone too far, the relationship between the police and the media? I think in some cases it had – that pally relationship crossed the boundaries. But are we in a position now where it’s gone too far the other way? Yes. It’s very difficult to get the pendulum in the middle, and it’s now gone too far the other way.

“What’s really important is for the police and the media to understand the roles they play, and how it’s vital they work together. And I think that gets lost sometimes.”

He adds: “Leveson hasn’t helped. For all the good it’s done, it’s done bad as well. And I just hope that the police service over time will step back from it and go: ‘You know what, we do need those relationships. We need to understand where those boundaries are, but we do need those relationships – because we do need to work together.’”

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[Guest]

Why hasn't the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case been charged? | 60 Minutes Australia

16:38 minutes



It’s a highly doubtful ‘if’ but if Madeleine McCann is still alive, two weeks ago she turned 19. Of course, her parents Gerry and Kate, cling to an infinitesimal hope she’s out there somewhere. But 15 years on from their little girl being snatched in Portugal, the realistic view about her fate is far more pessimistic. That’s not to say the mystery won’t be solved though. Portuguese and German investigators are convinced they know who abducted Maddie. Their prime suspect is Christian Bruckner, a truly terrible piece of work. However, two years after revealing their suspicions about him, there’s a tough question to ask: why haven’t they charged him with the crime?

[Kimono]

Still going strong apparently:

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[Guest]

Indeed, Mark Williams-Thomas' reputation as an investigative journalist, if that's what he calls himself, is somewhat tarnished by his less than factual portrayal of events and his egotistic habit of over-embellishing his own self importance at every given opportunity.

No doubt he will continue to make a career from false representation.  People like him do more harm than good.



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ETA:  Press reports over the last couple of days refer to Mark Williams-Thomas as the man who exposed Jimmy Savile - he didn't!  Jimmy Savile exposed himself - on more than one occasion     The groundwork was already well underway when he jumped on the bandwagon and then tried to take the credit, he can't stop himself meddling.  He did it with the case Madeleine McCann amongst others

Always trying to discredit the official investigative force, makes me think perhaps he bears a grudge.  He wasn't a serving police officer for very long and he left the force with a black cloud over his head. Has he got something to hide I wonder?

[Guest]

Private Investigator On Madeleine McCann And Jimmy Savile | Minutes With Podcast



57:58 minutes

LADbible TV

[PeterMac]

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Nicola Bulley: Private detective who worked on Madeleine McCann case arrives in St Michael's to investigate Nikki's disappearance and clear up 'inaccuracies'
An ex-detective who worked on numerous high profile cases has traveled to St Michael's to begin an independent investigation into Nicola Bulley’s disappearance.

Mark Williams-Thomas, 53, yesterday began his own search at the scene where the dog walker went missing.
He arrived at St Michael’s on Monday (Feb 13), aiming to pull together a ‘quick turn around report’ in an effort to quell some of the theories and inaccuracies about the 45-year-old's disappearance.
Mark posted on Twitter: ““I will explore all the options, bring you a factual evidence analysis and dismiss some of the inaccuracies.”

Now into his second day, the detective-turned-investigative journalist has yet to find any new developments, but noted that the location has ‘a lot’ of ‘access and opportunities’ to explore and that the exit routes are not covered by working CCTV.
Mark told Mail Online: “This would now be a critical incident being dealt with as suspicious, if it had been down to me. Within 48 hours I would have treated this in the same fashion as a murder or abduction.
ols continue in St Michael’s on Wyre as mounted police search...
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“I think police have been right to say they have an open mind – the problem that they have got is that they also said it wasn’t criminal.”
Lancashire Police believe the mortgage adviser could have fallen into the river during her walk.
Officers on Monday (February 13) continued to search the water, heading towards Morecambe Bay, with mounted police also taking part in the search in Knot
Police were also spotted patrolling Wyreside Farm Park Caravan park.

[Guest]

It's gone viral..

Nicola Bulley: Private detective who worked on Madeleine McCann case arrives in St Michael's to investigate Nikki's disappearance and clear up 'inaccuracies'

An ex-detective who worked on numerous high profile cases has traveled to St Michael's to begin an independent investigation into Nicola Bulley’s disappearance.

By Lucinda Herbert
19 hours ago - 1 min read

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[Guest]

Mark Williams-Thomas hides demons in his closet, demons he would prefer to keep under wraps.

His CV would appear to be built on fabrication - hardly commendable when trying to sell yourself as a master criminologist and building a career on shifting sands.



HENRIETTA PAGET  - CROWN PERSECUTION SERVICE

Henrietta Paget is (or was) a general criminal lawyer working out of Bell Yard chambers in London. She has experience in drugs offences, sexual offences, revenue work and local authority prosecutions. Much of her work is for the CPS.

BACKGROUND

Education

B. A. (Oxon.) Literae Humaniores
Graduate Diploma in Law (City University)

Associated Work

   Appointed to the Attorney General’s Unified List of Prosecuting Advocates (B List) (2006)

   Secretary to the Trustees of the Kalisher Trust

Professional memberships

Criminal Bar Association
South Eastern Circuit
Young Fraud Lawyers’ Association,
Surrey and South London Bar Mess
Sussex Bar Mess

June 2003 - Man 'blackmailed funeral firm'

A journalist blackmailed a funeral firm by threatening to publish claims more than one person was buried in the same grave, a court has heard.

Freelance reporter Mark Williams-Thomas demanded money from the chief executive of Dignity Funerals, Chichester Crown Court was told.

Miss Henrietta Padget, prosecuting, told the jury that at least three newspapers and a TV station were said by Mr Williams-Thomas to have been ready to run the story.

He claimed a former Dignity employee had told him bodies had been buried "inappropriately" at a cemetery in Leatherhead, Surrey.

Blackmail claim

Mr Williams-Thomas, of Beech Lane, Hindhead, Surrey, denies a charge of blackmail.

The court was told he had arranged to meet the chief executive of Dignity, Peter Hindley, at the Gatwick Hilton in January 2002.

"Mr Thomas told Mr Hindley that the story was ready to go and that newspapers and TV were interested," she said.

"He said he was a businessman trying to sell a story, and that if Mr Hindley bought the story that would be the end of the matter.

"He said if they bought it he would take care of it."  Miss Padget said the defendant's demands added up to blackmail.

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[Guest]

Ten years after the event, to Mark the occasion of the 10th year since Madeleine Mccann was first reported missing, this is what the freelance investigative journalist slash criminologist had to say about the case - lifted from various press outlets and the Schofield/Willoughby television interview..

Madeleine McCann Theory Revealed By Investigative Journalist 10 Years After She Went Missing

An investigative journalist who visited the Algarve town days after Madeleine McCann disappeared from her holiday apartment has revealed what he believes may have happened.

February 2017

'I believe she woke up in the middle of the night.'

“On that morning of Madeleine’s disappearance, we do know she went to [her parents] Gerry and Kate and said: ‘Where were you last night?’

“Because we know the twins did wake up on days prior to her disappearance.

“And I think as a result of that, Madeleine was clearly aware they were in the tapas bar that was in the resort.

I believe she woke up in the middle of the night, she went looking for Gerry and Kate and she left the apartment and went out.

“Because we know the patio door at the back was insecure.”

....................

Disappeared without trace, leading no trail of evidence to follow, with the exception of the smell of death.

And just as a reminder Master Criminologist extraordinaire, we don't know anything but where the evidence directs.  The specific 'we knows' you identify are but taken from key witness statements, witness statements that couldn't hold water in a cesspit.

You and we and they do not know for fact that the twins woke in the night nor that Madeleine asked where were you last night.  Is that how you conduct an investigation, is that how you clear-up 'discrepancies' - eh?

Allegedly ....

[Guest]

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[Guest]

This is an interesting blog, it also includes an in-depth look into the organised attempts to smear Jeremy Clarkson over his comments about  Meghan 'The Minx' Markle.

Anyway, on with the motley..

The collapse of Jonathan King’s trial raises questions about Surrey Police that go beyond disclosure failures

Last May the journalist and author Bob Woffinden died of mesothelioma. He will be remembered as a formidable campaigner against miscarriages of justice.

While judge after judge rejected the legal attempts of the Birmingham 6 and the Guildford 4 to obtain justice – per Lord Denning MR“appalling vista …;” per Lord Lane LCJ “the longer this case has gone on the more convinced this court has become that the verdict of the jury was correct ….” – Woffinden and other journalists such as Ludovic Kennedy and Paul Foot, (and of course lawyers like Gareth Pierce, too) doggedly chipped away, until eventually the cases were revealed for what he had believed them to be from an early stage; grotesque miscarriages of justice, brought about by a combination of systemic disclosure failures, bungling by expert witnesses, police malpractice, prejudiced jurors and judicial complacency. His 1987 book on the cases, Miscarriages of Justice, remains a classic.

In his final 2016 book, The Nicholas Cases, Woffinden turned his attention to more contemporary possible miscarriages of justice. One of these was the 2001 conviction of Jonathan King on charges of historic abuse of boys. He made a compelling case that the original trial had been unfair and produced evidence that suggested King had a strong alibi for one of the offences – he was in America at the time, as attested by several witnesses and documents discovered after the trial. Another of Woffinden’s revelations was that the main complainant in the case against King had, reportedly, after the trial, admitted lying against King for money: he had also apparently sold his story for £45,000 to one newspaper and £5,000 to another.

There was, in fact, a second trial, but that ended in King’s acquittal on all charges.

Before going to the police many of the complainants against King had first contacted the publicist Max Clifford, who was in 2005 able to give the Guardian the benefit of his unique insights into paedophilia:

“In my experience paedophiles always try to justify themselves and never show remorse. I spent a great deal of time with his victims. They all came to me, I never went looking. It was a very emotional experience.”

Through the good offices of Mr Clifford stories about King were sold to the media and more complainants then “came forward.”

As well as an emotional experience the long periods of time that Mr Clifford spent with the complainants also proved  profitable for Mr Clifford, at least in the short term. In the longer term, though, it did not turn out well for him. After King’s release from prison he learnt about Clifford’s taste for underage girls through a mutual friend, and encouraged one of his victims to complain to the very same Surrey Police force that had arrested him, neatly turning the tables on the PR Svengali, and bringing about his downfall.

Earlier this year King was charged with more historic sex offences against teenage boys and faced yet another trial. After one false start and prolonged legal argument largely concentrating on disclosure issues, the trial at Southwark Crown Court finally collapsed last week, with the judge describing the approach of Surrey Police as “lamentable.”

She had, she said, been misled “on several critical occasions.” It turned out the Magistrates Court had also been misled – not deliberately but with “a deplorable lack of seriousness and rigour” – in an application for a search warrant. Disclosure had been a mess. Documents capable of undermining the prosecution case or supporting Mr King’s defence were not disclosed, or were “inadequately” described on schedules, or had simply disappeared.

It also emerged that the Surrey Police had gone to the extraordinary lengths of undertaking a covert surveillance operation against King in 2015. Why this was considered an appropriate use of resources in a case alleging historic abuse was not explained in the judgment, but disappointingly from the point of view of the police it had revealed nothing to suggest that he had done anything wrong. Obviously this was something which was potentially helpful to Mr King’s defence, but the fact of the surveillance was not even revealed until a late stage, and then only after an application had been made to withhold disclosure on the basis of Public Interest Immunity.

Summarising her reasons for stopping the case, HHJ Deborah Taylor said:

“… the integrity of the criminal justice system and processes have been undermined publicly in a fundamental way by the disclosure failures and persistent misleading of the court.”

Judicial condemnation does not often come more scathing than that.

So far, one might think, so appalling; here is yet another case of a prosecution being brought without proper attention being given to disclosure issues. That is true, but the implications of the case potentially go rather further.

One of the complainants in the case – he cannot, of course, be named but we can call him Complainant A – was a man whose statement had originally been taken in 2000 by a police officer in the Surrey Police. When this blog was originally posted it was unclear whether identification of the police officer had been authorised by the judge; it is now clear that his name can be reported. It is Mark Williams-Thomas, now a journalist and fairly well-known TV presenter.  That explains the references to “Mr X” in the comments section.

Complainant A’s evidence – seemingly the very first witness ever to make a statement about King – did not in the end form part of the original trials, and a count relating to it was “left on the file,” where it remained until 2018. At that point the prosecution applied to resurrect it, in order to join it to the new case. They told the court that they had made full disclosure, and on that basis the judge allowed counts based on A’s case to be joined to the new trial.

As Judge Taylor put it:

“I make clear that had full disclosure regarding [A], and the involvement of Williams-Thomas been made known, those counts would not have been added to the Indictment.”

A jury was thus empanelled and earlier this summer the trial began.

But the Prosecution – in particular the Police – had not made full disclosure at all.

The defence continued to press for more, including of material relating to the by now ex-police officer, Mr Williams-Thomas. It was provided, late and piecemeal, but it was enough, eventually, to undermine A’s evidence so much that the Crown dropped the allegations which depended upon his evidence. The judge explained that

“… it was the Crown’s view that due to the evidence which had emerged late it could no longer maintain the position that [A’s] statement was reliable evidence.”

The result was that the jury was discharged, and the Crown decided to try again, this time without A’s evidence.

A significant amount of this “evidence which had emerged late” related to the involvement of the ex-police officer, Mr Williams-Thomas. In particular:

   When Mr Williams-Thomas left the force he took his notebooks relating to inquiries into Mr King with him. They were, as the Prosecution said, not his to keep; they were official documents belonging to Surrey Police. A police officer’s notebook, of course, is always of great importance, being in many cases the only contemporaneous record of relevant events.

   No attempt was made to recover the notebooks by Surrey Police, and nor did Mr Williams-Thomas, return them to the police. Why he did not return them voluntarily once he knew that Mr King had been charged and put on trial is not explained.

   Evidence also emerged of what is described as “a declared personal link between Mr Williams-Thomas, who had left the police force by then and ‘CH’ within the police.” Quite what that was all about is not explained in the judgment. It may well have been of no great significance, after all it would not be very surprising for an ex-Police officer to remain friendly with serving officers.

   Three years after Williams-Thomas left the police, he was prosecuted for an unrelated offence. That much was well known, and he was in fact acquitted. However, what was not disclosed to the defence until a very late stage is that during the investigation into the other offence, a document was found on his computer “offering for sale names and introductions to victims of Mr King.” This information came into the hands of Surrey Police’s Anti-Corruption Unit in 2014 – what it was doing between 2003 and 2014 is not revealed in the judgment – but the Anti-Corruption Unit did not pass it on to the officers investigating Mr King.

   Unsurprisingly, King’s defence counsel, Henry Blaxland QC and Alexandra Felix, argued that:“there was deliberate concealment of … the documents indicating attempts to gain financial advantage from selling details of Mr King’s case.” Surrey Police have issued a rather dismal apology to Mr King. They have indicated that they will be commissioning an independent inquiry into the case. Mr Williams-Thomas on the other hand, has yet to comment in detail on its collapse or to proffer any explanation for why he may have appeared to have been“offering for sale names and introductions to victims of Mr King.” He did say that he was “unhappy” and he believes the truth will come out. He is better placed than anyone to see that it does.Of course there may be some innocent explanation for all this. Cock-ups tend to be rather more common than conspiracies. Mr Wiliams-Thomas was not prosecuted for any offence relating to corruption or misconduct in public office, so we should not assume that he was guilty of any wrongdoing. One would like to think not, because a police officer, or an ex-police officer, making money by selling the contact details of complainants, or even thinking about doing so, is the sort of thing which utterly corrupts not just one case but potentially every case in which he is, or has ever been, involved.

   For his part, Mr King has already applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to review his original convictions, and I understand that as a result of the material revealed about Mr Williams-Thomas and the Surrey Police during this collapsed trial, the CCRC will shortly be receiving another thick bundle of material.

   An irony that will not have escaped the Chief Constable of Surrey as he considers what his own inquiry should look into, and perhaps his own position, is the judge’s finding that this disastrous attempt to prosecute Mr King was driven “not … by complainants’ allegations, but by concerns about reputational damage to Surrey Police in the wake of the Savile case ….” Bringing a case because of concerns about reputational damage to a police force seems an extraordinary thing to do, but if that was the reason why it was thought fit to place Mr King under covert surveillance and then to prosecute him it has proved spectacularly unsuccessful.

It is to be hoped that the independent inquiry promised by the Surrey Police – whether it is a judge led inquiry or a police led criminal investigation – will get to the bottom of what has gone wrong. Only then will the reputation of Surrey Police begin to recover.

Bob Woffinden’s intuition proved to be right about the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four. It now seems more than ever that he was also right to raise the most searching questions about the convictions of Jonathan King.

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[Guest]

The documentary maker who exposed Jimmy Savile 'offered to sell names of DJ Jonathan King's child sex abuse victims' while working as a police detective on his case, judge claims

Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed to have solved numerous high-profile cases
Judge Deborah Taylor delivered a withering view of his work for Surrey Police
She said a document was found offering names and introductions to victims

By Crime Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 23:27, 6 August 2018 | Updated: 01:56, 7 August 2018

A former police officer in the Jonathan King case who is now a TV documentary reporter offered to sell the names of the pop mogul’s victims, according to a judge.

Investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas, who made his name in a documentary exposing Jimmy Savile, has claimed to have solved a number of high-profile cases, including the murder of TV host Jill Dando.

But yesterday his professional reputation was called into question after Judge Deborah Taylor delivered a withering assessment of his previous work for Surrey Police on the King case. before he left the force in October 2000 Mr Williams-Thomas was the detective who interviewed the first man to accuse King of sexual assault. He was subsequently accused – and acquitted – of blackmail in an unrelated case.

Yesterday the judge said: ‘During the investigation into that offence a document was found on his computer offering for sale names and introductions to victims of Mr King.

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Investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas, who made his name in a documentary exposing Jimmy Savile, has claimed to have solved a number of high-profile cases

‘There was also information that prior to Mr King’s arrest, Williams-Thomas said that he had been provided by a journalist with information about King. Williams-Thomas left taking his contemporaneous notebooks of his involvement with inquiries into Mr King with him.

‘No attempts had been made to obtain them, although it is the Crown’s position that he should not have taken them with him as they were the property of Surrey Police.’

The judge added that it had been suggested ‘there was deliberate concealment of his previous prosecution and of the documents indicating attempts to gain financial advantage from selling details of Mr King’s case’. Yesterday Mr Williams-Thomas denied ever knowing the victims’ identities, or offering them for sale.

The ex-officer, who is working with Simon Cowell’s production company on a crime investigation series, said: ‘I have for the first time today been made aware that my name has been mentioned in a ruling by HHJ Deborah Taylor in the case against Jonathan King.

‘I am with immediate effect making contact with the CPS to seek clarification on these matters.’

Selling victims’ details would constitute an offence of misconduct in a public office. The maximum penalty is life in prison.

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