A private eye at the centre of a child custody row

A private eye at the centre of a child custody row also bugged rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio during a drugs probe, the Old Bailey heard today.

(MON)

Jonathan Rees, 34, boasted of planting listening devices in the England captain’s hotel room and allegedly recorded him talking about a shady past, the jury was told.

The tapes later formed part of the basis for an article in a national newspaper, it was claimed.

Rees is said to have hatched a plot with corrupt Det Cons Austin Warnes, 47, and police informant Dave Courtney, 41, to plant drugs on Kim James.

The court has been told the three were recruited into the scheme by Simon James, 34, who wanted weaken his wife Kim’s chances in the custody battle over their three-year-old son Daniel.

But today, James claimed his ex really was dealing drugs – and that conversations secretly recorded by the police had been misinterpreted.

The jury has heard tapes of a meeting between James and Rees at the investigator’s office in which they allegedly discussed drugs found in Kim’s car – and Rees boasts: ‘We did that.

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But James told the court: ‘Rees had previously told me his company had bugged the hotel room of Lawrence Dallaglio, the England rugby captain, when he said he had taken drugs and sold drugs in the past.

‘On his (Rees’) desk he had a newspaper article which I looked at.

He pointed to it and said ”We did that” – it was the story of Lawrence Dallaglio.

‘I was quite taken aback.

I didn’t like it really because he is a person I admire.

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James also claimed that various other passages had been wrongly transcribed by the police.

He said his wife asking in a phone call ‘What did you plant?’ was really her enquiring ”What did you want?’.

He said the words ‘powdered stuff’ were actually ‘coloured fella’, and ‘As you say with the coke’ was ‘coloured bloke’.

James also claimed that his ex-wife called him after her arrest and threatened to get him back.

He told the court: ‘She left messages on my answer machine saying I was going to get paid back for this and that I wouldn’t know what had hit me.

‘She called me a pathetic little man.

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The court has heard that the three men used James Cook, 45, to plant the drugs in a Fiat Punto belonging to part-time model Kim.

James is said to have paid his three-co-accused a ‘substantial’ sum to help him win custody of his three-year-old child.

Courtney, of Camelot Castle (corr), Plumstead, southeast London, student James, of Northcote Road, Battersea, Rees, of Grange Road, Thornton Heath, and Cook, of Treetops, the Glades, Kingswood, Surrey, all deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Cook also has addresses in Wolseley Road, Mitcham Junction, and in Nightingale Close, Carshalton.

Warnes, of Heath Road, Dartford, has admitted the conspiracy charge and he will be sentenced later.

The trial continues.

ends