Straw under pressure over bugging claims

The Government is facing calls for an inquiry into claims that conversations between lawyers and prisoners in British jails are routinely bugged.

An anonymous whistleblower has claimed the authorities listened in to hundreds of confidential meetings with inmates at Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has already launched an investigation into claims that Labour MP Sadiq Khan's meetings with a terror suspect at the jail were secretly recorded.

Now opposition spokesmen are calling for a fresh probe into how widespread the practice of bugging is.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "It goes so close to the heart of our justice system and it puts the whole trial process at risk," he said.

"That is why I have called for Mr Straw to set up a second inquiry."

The whistleblower, who claims to have detailed knowledge of bugging operations, has said serious criminals like Soham murderer Ian Huntley have been targeted as well as terror suspects.

One leading barrister, Geoffrey Robertson QC, has warned that unlawful bugging could prompt courts to release offenders like Huntley.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Police monitoring operations are a matter for the police and are undertaken in line with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

"The Prison Service may grant the police permission to operate in prison providing that there are no concerns about order or control. Such co-operation is vital in the fight against serious crime and terrorism."

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