Millionaire on hacking charge

From: Greg Perry <gr..._at_liveammo.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 09:19:32 -0500

The Sunday Times
January 29, 2006

Millionaire on hacking charge
Sophie Kirkham

MATTHEW MELLON, heir to a £6.6 billion banking and oil fortune, will
appear in court next month in connection with an investigation into an
alleged phone-tapping and computer hacking gang.

The former husband of Tamara Mellon, who runs the Jimmy Choo shoe
empire, will appear alongside 17 other defendants accused of involvement
in the operation, which allegedly provided clients with confidential
information about wealthy people and businesses.

Following a tip-off from BT, Scotland Yard has conducted a long
investigation into a private detective agency run by a former policeman
which it believed was bugging phone calls.

It is now alleged the group was also hacking into NHS computers to
access confidential medical files to blackmail people, spying on police
and bugging their phone calls to get information. There are also several
charges of falsifying invoices.

One of the group is said to have taken BT overalls, a reflective jacket
and tools, along with a BT works barrier and stool, and a shirt from
NTL, another other telecoms company.

A regular on the London social scene and close friends with Elizabeth
Hurley and Hugh Grant, Mellon, 41, inherited a £14m trust fund at the
age of 21. He now has a fortune put by The Sunday Times Rich List at
£50m. His family is held in the same regard in America as the
Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Astors.

He met Tamara Yeardye in 1998. The couple’s marriage in 2000 at Blenheim
Palace took up eight pages in American Vogue and the bride wore a
Valentino wedding dress encrusted with diamonds. More than half the
guests were said to be wearing Jimmy Choos.

The Mellons spent several years as a golden couple of London society
often appearing in magazine pages and at charity functions. In 2002 they
had a daughter, Araminta. But the marriage fell apart amid revelations
of Mellon’s cocaine habit, which he is said to have battled in the
1990s, and the couple went through an acrimonious divorce last year.

After the marriage ended Tamara, who is now worth £60m in her own right,
began seeing Oscar Humphries, the son of Barry, creator of Dame Edna
Everage. Mellon has recently said he was planning a change in career
from working as chief designer for Harry’s, an upmarket men’s shoe
company he launched five years ago — he has tried his hand at film
producing in the past.

He remains a colourful figure on the social scene — his hobbies are said
to include nude jet skiing — and he has had a string of celebrity
girlfriends since his marriage break-up. He is currently seeing Noelle
Reno, a 24-year-old actress.

Mellon, who lives in Belgravia, London, is charged with conspiracy to
cause unauthorised modification of computer material.

Also in the dock at Bow Street magistrates’ court in February will be
another wealthy businessman, Adrian Kirby, who made his money from waste
disposal units. Kirby, 47, of Haslemere, Surrey, has a fortune put at
£65m by the Rich List.

He is charged with conspiracy to intercept communications unlawfully,
unauthorised modification of computer material and perverting the course
of justice.

Former Essex police officer Scott Gelsthorpe, 31, of Kettering,
Northamptonshire, is facing 15 charges.

The suspects, 17 men and one woman, come from southern England,
Lincolnshire and France and are said to have committed the offences
between July and September 2004. They will appear before magistrates on
February 23.
Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:20 CST