Drug dealer gets £3,000 from police

// Thought I would include this piece, since it shows the difficulty, the authorities can get themselves in, regarding the surveillance of the citizen Vs the citizens right of privacy. Even in ‘crime’ this is not easily settled //

A convicted drugs dealer has been awarded £3,000 compensation for invasion of privacy.

Sean Taylor-Sabori, 40, from Bristol, was jailed for 10 years in 1997 after police found ecstasy worth more than £260,000 in an armed raid on a vehicle driving on the M4.

The European Court of Human Rights awarded the costs and expenses after the police cloned Taylor-Sabori’s radio pager and intercepted his messages. The court ruled that the actions violated Articles 8 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin joined a chorus of protests, telling a national newspaper that the ruling was ‘pure Alice in Wonderland’.

A National Crime Squad press officer told BBC News Online: “What we are saying is that this man’s conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 1998, and the criminal cases review commission. This is important.

“Ten years ago, the legislation was not as stringent as it is today. We can still do what we did then, but have to apply to the Home Office first.” Taylor-Sabori was released from prison last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2728009.stm

National Crime Squad http://www.nationalcrimesquad.police.uk