EXCLUSIVE 🚨 The Sunday Times has obtained "black box" data from a tracking device inside the Mercedes rental car used by Akbar Shamji — a suspect in the case of teenager Zac Brettler's death.

We have used its GPS data to create minute-by-minute reconstruction of his movements on the night.

It shatters his story and shows he lied to police repeatedly during their investigation.

Met had the data, but failed to analyse it in depth, so never confronted him about inconsistencies, such as his claim he was at home during fatal fall:



🧵thetimes.co.uk/article/the-de… Former bankrupt crypto investor Shamji and gangster Dave Sharma were the last people to see Brettler alive.

They confronted him about money they felt he owed them before he jumped off a 5th floor flat opposite MI6 headquarters.

A coroner delivered an "open verdict" meaning his death was suspicious but its cause unknown.

Here's a vintage example of FOI vandalism I've been dealing with.

The department: David Cameron’s Foreign Office.
The subject: David Cameron’s lobbying career.

🧵 In January 2023, Cameron visited Sri Lanka.

While there, he met the president twice. Once at his residence. Another time at lunch with the British ambassador.

Within months, he was being paid to drum up investment for Port City Colombo, a highly controversial Chinese infrastructure project.

It is part of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative. Critics believe it could become a military base.

I was privileged to know Zac Brettler when he was a little boy.

Following @praddenkeefe's investigation into his death, I spoke to his extraordinary parents.

Today, they give The Sunday Times previously unpublished evidence about the night their 19-year-old jumped from a balcony after a confrontation with a gangster.

It poses huge questions of the Metropolitan Police. Like crime-scene photos of the blood-like smears detectives somehow did not swab or test... (1/6)

thetimes.co.uk/article/the-me… And a photo of the glass balcony from which Zac jumped to his death. Even police believed it had been "wiped" before they arrive at the scene.

Again, it does not appear to have been tested... (2/6)

EXCL w/@domhauschild

Rishi Sunak's pensions minister is under investigation for spending taxpayers cash on Tory Party in his marginal seat

Paul Maynard broke expenses rules, lashed out at whistleblower

He spent £160k on printing-more than any Tory MP 🧵thetimes.co.uk/article/minist… Maynard has for years used publicly-funded constituency office as Tory campaign HQ and used taxpayer funded printing kit to produce political leaflets

Both are banned by expenses watchdog IPSA, which last night said:  “In light of the additional information provided by ..." 2/9

EXCLUSIVE 🚨 w/@HarryYorke1

The king's cousin fixed a private jet and luxury safari holiday for Oleg Deripaska while he was sanctioned by the US

Lexi Bowes-Lyon - NY-based Brit at US charity - did so in 2021, years after Putin ally sanctioned by America thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-… Her employer, UK and US registered charity Space for Giants, says: “We are not in a position to confirm or deny that Space for Giants has or has not breached US sanctions in relation to the 2021 safari given that no competent authority has ever ruled on this."

A post-script on David Warburton, the disgraced Tory MP who has quit after being accused of sexual assault or harassment by three women

(He also took cocaine and a secret £100k loan from a Russian he lobbied for)

On Sunday, he did a sit down interview in the Mail on Sunday. 1/ In it, he presented himself as a victim - and lashed out at the woman who accused him of assault. He was, he said, the victim of a set up. A sinister plot.

The outgoing MP said his accuser spoke fluent Russian - inflaming his fears of "Russian infiltration".
2/

EXCLUSIVE 🚨w/ @HarryYorke1 @cazjwheeler

Boris Johnson’s meetings with BBC chair Richard Sharp, cousin Sam Blyth and Tory peer Lord Brownlow have been referred to the police

Also on the list: a visit by two of Carrie Johnson’s friends to Chequers

1/4
thetimes.co.uk/article/477545… Sharp & Blyth visited Chequers for dinner w/ Johnson on 2 May 2021. They did so at a time when household mixing indoors was banned & social distancing rules were in place. Sharp has said he was driven there by Blyth.

Sharp and Johnson say dinner was outdoors & lawful. 2/4

NEW 🚨 Richard Sharp damaged faith in the BBC by “serious” failure to reveal role in Boris Johnson loan of up to £800k

That is extraordinary verdict of DCMS select committee of MPs who had approved his appointment

Today they say: we didn’t have the facts bbc.co.uk/news/uk-646101… The report is excoriating.

It all but calls for Sharp to go. MPs say he should dwell on damage done to not only BBC but public appointments.

It says his appointment flawed as he deprived them of info.

And says govt should therefore stop using their past approval as a defence.

How the Metropolitan Police works (a thread).

Since September 2021, detectives have been "investigating" the most constitutionally sensitive and awkward of crimes: the alleged sale of honours by King Charles's closest aides.

An offence punishable with up to two years in prison. Despite voluminous evidence - much of it published in the Sunday Times - The Met took half a year to launch a formal inquiry after a complaint was made.

As with partygate, it did not provide any comment or transparency whatsoever as to why it initially refused to investigate.

EXCLUSIVE w/@HarryYorke1🚨

Boris Johnson was told to stop seeking Richard Sharp's "advice about your personal financial matters" days before announcing him as BBC chairman

The Sunday Times today reveals bombshell letter given to him by Simon Case 1/8

thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-… The letter dated December 22 2020 states: “Given the imminent announcement of Richard Sharp as the new BBC chair, it is important that you no longer ask his advice about your personal financial matters."

2/8

EXCLUSIVE🚨w/@HarryYorke1

The BBC chairman helped arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to £800K for Boris Johnson weeks before then PM selected him for the role

Johnson was told to end Richard Sharp’s involvement in his financial affairs by Cab Office 1/7 thetimes.co.uk/article/the-bb… Sharp has given £400k to the Conservatives, once managed Rishi Sunak at Goldman Sachs and is friend of Johnson

But his proximity to Johnson - and involvement in financing his lifestyle in Downing St - has never been revealed (2/7)

EXCLUSIVE w/@HarryYorke1

Boris Johnson funded his lifestyle in No10 through a credit facility of up to £800,000 underwritten by multi-millionaire foreign national and distant relative

Sam Blyth also gave Johnsons free use of his Caribbean villa 1/4

thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-… In Dec 2020, Johnson asked Simon Case for advice about arrangement

That month, Blyth, Canadian private education businessman, entered talks about becoming CEO of British Council, a public body. (He did not succeed)

Civil service approval was based on no conflict of interest 2/4

BREAK: David Warburton breached MPs Code of Conduct by failing to register £150,000 loan he took from Russian businessman via off-shore trust

MP also breached rules by failing to declare loan when lobbying Financial Conduct Authority for Russian, per Kathryn Stone Stone says the fact he lobbied FCA to recognise Russian as a "fit and proper" did not amount to paid advocacy as he didn't request specific action and he was not acting on his behalf. (Not sure evidence supports this.)

Warburton has issued an apology for multiple breaches.

EXCLUSIVE: Gavin Williamson sent abusive and threatening messages to Wendy Morton about not being invited to the Queen's funeral, warning her: "There is a price for everything"

Sunak told of complaint about him but appointed him anyway, ex-chairman says thetimes.co.uk/article/you-f-… Williamson told Morton it was “disgusting you are using her death to punish people…absolutely disgusting” - a claim for which he didn’t provide any evidence

When she told him it wasn’t true, Williamson said: “perception becomes reality”

EXCLUSIVE: Liz Truss's chief of staff has been interviewed by FBI agents about an alleged criminal plot to bribe a politician and influence a US election

Mark Fullbrook quizzed this year after detectives made secret request via Metropolitan Police and NCA
thetimes.co.uk/article/no-10-… FBI probe centres on Venezeulan-born, Mayfair-based Tory donor.

He allegedly gave $300k to re-election of Trump-supporting governor of Puerto Rico, US territory, on one condition: sack head of its financial regulator, which was investigating suspicious activity at his bank

EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson lobbied for a public role for a young woman who says he abused his power to have a sexual relationship with her

The PM was confronted at the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017, when she told him she was still “shaken and upset”
thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-… Johnson put the woman forward for a role in 2008 when he was newly elected London mayor, MP for Henley and a married father of four She was in her twenties, living on her own and temping having just moved to London and become involved as a volunteer for the Tory party

EXCLUSIVE: Prince Charles gave honour to Tory peer who spent £2m bailing out his eco-village flop in secretive deal now under investigation

Lord Brownlow of wallpapergate fame also held 50th birthday at HRH’s estate, got £1m contract from HRH charity 1/7 thetimes.co.uk/article/prince… Future king believed building and selling plush eco-properties would help pay off the £20m loan he took out to buy his beloved estate, Dumfries House, in Scotland

The problem was most people couldn't afford them

31 of 770 homes were built, the rest permanently scrapped. 2/7

EXCLUSIVE: Prince Charles accepted a suitcase containing €1m in cash from "HBJ", the former prime minister of Qatar

Charles received three €1m gifts from sheikh in undisclosed meetings - including one said to be in Fortnum & Mason bags 1/5
thetimes.co.uk/article/charle… HBJ said to have given money in 500 euro bank-notes - denomination dubbed the "bin Laden" b/c of terrorist financing link and since discontinued

Royal aides were uncomfortable but counted cash at Clarence House, then sent to Coutts

One said it was “only thing we could do” 2/5

Exclusive: Tory MP David Warburton is suspended after he was alleged to have sexually assaulted three women and pictured with cocaine

He's under investigation by parliamentary authorities

MP also took undisclosed £100k loan from a Russian businessman thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-m… One former aide says Warburton coerced her into returning to his taxpayer funded flat in Westminster

He then allegedly kissed her, stroked her hair and touched her thigh, having touched her bottom and thigh on other occasions

She’s now on indefinite sick leave

Charlie Elphicke spent four years suing The Sunday Times for revealing a woman accused him of rape

He used British libel law to silence her and prolong her pain after being jailed for sex crimes

Last week he dropped the case. Today we tell the full story thetimes.co.uk/article/charli… Elphicke was represented by Carter Ruck, the firm of choice for oligarchs, before and after his time in jail

The former MP argued the alleged victim was lying. The onus was on us - and her - to prove she wasn't

She says this prolonged her "torture", was a form of "punishment"

EXCLUSIVE w/@harryyorke1

The head of MI6 had concerns about Boris Johnson’s friend Evgeny Lebedev almost a decade ago

In 2013, Sir John Sawers repeatedly rejected bid by KGB agent’s son to meet at MI6 HQ

No10 doesn't deny PM knew about incident
thetimes.co.uk/article/how-bo… Lebedev instructed editor of the Independent, a paper he owned, to get him access to lunch with MI6 chief

Sawers refused, said he'd play no role in Lebedev campaign to infiltrate the establishment

Lebedev pushed back. MI6, aware of significant risks in meeting him, held firm