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Birmingham lawyers hot on the trails of cyber criminals
8 Nov 2013 07:35

A crack team of Birmingham-based lawyers are hot on the trail of cyber criminals. Jeanette Oldham reports.

Two Michael Jackson fans hacked into Sony’s computers. Organised Crime Division chief John Davies is hot on the trail of the cyber criminals.

They are the shadowy figures using the ‘dark web’ to steal identities, defraud banks and companies – and sell drugs and guns.

Cyber criminals making millions from behind their computer screens, using technology to try to stay one step ahead of the law.

But a crack team of Birmingham-based lawyers are on their trail, and bringing them to trial.

John Davies heads the Crown Prosecution Service’s Organised Crime Division (OCD) in Birmingham, which works with the National Crime Agency to bring major criminals to justice.

In an exclusive interview with the Mail, he said cyber crime was one of the ‘biggest threats’ to face the UK today.

“Cyber crime is a big priority for the UK law enforcement,’’ said Mr Davies, who leads a team of 15 staff.

“There can be threats to state systems such as defence systems and that type of attack, etc.

“Then there can be the ‘conventional’ types of crime committed using cyber. There are very big sums to be had for example by breaking into people’s bank accounts, over the internet, or doing similar from which criminals could actually steal vast sums of money out of a victim’s bank account.”

Mr Davies added: “Cyber crime is a new experience for all us all. We are dealing with about half a dozen cyber cases at the moment, but all the indications are is that the threat is going to get bigger.”

A recent cyber crime case involved the unlikeliest of targets - the late Michael Jackson and his record company Sony.

Leicester Crown Court heard fans James Marks, 27, and James McCormick, 26, hacked into Sony’s computers and stole unreleased recordings.

Marks, of Daventry, Northants, and McCormick, of Blackpool, downloaded 7,000 music files, including by other artists like Beyonce and Bruce Springstein.

After pleading guilty to computer misuse offences, they were each given a six-month sentence, suspended for a year, and ordered to complete 100 hours’ community service.

Robert Davies, the Birmingham unit’s principal crown advocate, was counsel on the case and said the pair were obsessed with the late Thriller star.

“All their benefits and wages went on Michael Jackson material,’’ he said.

“They were obsessed with the mistaken idea that a posthumous album that Sony had released was in fact full of bogus Michael Jackson material; in other words, other people were singing on it, and it had been put out as his own.

“They were both very good on computers and found a way to get into the main Sony music servers which are in New York and are massive.

“They were big players in a Michael Jackson chatroom forum. One of them was the moderator on the site. I don’t think the two of them had even met. They were just internet friends.

“They downloaded lots of material and they got to the stage where one of them put out a different version of one of the Michael Jackson tracks on the album by combining the various stems and they just started to boast about what they had.

“They put some of the Michael Jackson material out there on the system and clearly Sony were very worried about what might happen to the rest of it.

“It was pursued because it was a massive copyright theft. It’s like a burglary, in truth. The fact that you haven’t done anything with the stuff you’ve stolen before you get caught is perhaps not the point.

“I don’t think they really knew what to do with it. There was some chat between them about how they could sell this material on but it was all a bit lame quite frankly.”

Cyber crime is only part of the team’s portfolio. Drug trafficking and organised crime still make up the largest proportion of their caseload.

Last month the Organised Crime Division enjoyed a major success when it was revealed 19 people had been jailed for more than 200 years after SOCA smashed Birmingham and Leicester-based drugs gangs.

Heroin with a street value of £300 million was seized in the international operation, which led to awards for the OCD team involved.

John Davies was keen to impress that his unit’s usual 90 per cent successful conviction rate was derived in the main from not only the hard work and dedication of his own staff, but the early investigative engagement and close working relationship they shared with investigators from the NCA (formerly SOCA).

“There is very much a ‘can do’ ethos in the joint prosecution teams and the quality of the work, commitment and dedication from the staff in both organisations is excellent, of which all should be very proud,” he said.

But their work is far from done.

Mr Davies added: “There is a backbone of organised crime throughout the country.

“It comes from London in the south up through the Midlands to the north up to the north-west. We have our three offices, one in London, one here in Birmingham and one in the north.

“The majority (of cases) is drugs. With drugs you get money laundering. We get people trafficking cases and we get the odd case of gun-running.

“The organised crime gangs are very sophisticated, there’s large amounts of money to be made and most of the big criminals don’t even get anywhere near the actual physical scene of the crime.

‘‘A large part of our work literally is to try to go back up the chain to those who seek to mastermind the criminal activity.

“I don’t think you can categorise the average Mr Big. I can think of someone who lives in a particular area and who has lived near some very notorious criminals and he says they are some of the nicest, most polite people you could ever meet.

“I suspect they look and behave in many ways rather like your average person which makes detecting and successfully prosecuting them just a little more harder.”

John Davies is a determined figure, which is probably linked to his down to earth background.

He began his working life in the motor trade but when that career ended he went into law, putting himself through university in doing so.

It is this determination that has helped him work his way up through the ranks of the Crown Prosecution Service, to become one of the key figures in the West Midlands today.