Hundreds of lawyers 'routinely bugged' on visits to clients in jails

Ministers are under pressure today to reveal the extent of bugging in jails after it was reported covert recordings were being made routinely across the country.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said he was writing to Justice Secretary Jack Straw to demand he order a full-scale investigation - saying ministers must have been aware.

An unnamed whistleblower told The Daily Telegraph that the controversial taping of Labour MP Sadiq Khan's conversations with a terror suspect constituent was part of a much wider practice.

The source - said to have "detailed knowledge" of the operation - told the paper they were among "hundreds" of such eavesdropping operations carried out at Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes.

Murderers and other category-A prisoners - including Soham murderer Ian Huntley - were also said to have been targeted for the recordings now stored at a "top-secret facility protected by armed guards".

Mark Kearney, the former police officer at the heart of the row, claims he was asked to eavesdrop on a second legally-privileged conversation, between a terror suspect and his solicitor.

High-profile lawyers have already spoken out publicly about their suspicions they were being bugged.

The whistleblower told the newspaper: "Mark [Kearney] didn't feel what was going on was right or legal. Every person who came in and saw these terrorist suspects was the subject of an eavesdropping operation.

"He was put under huge amounts of pressure. Initially, it was just one or two machines but it steadily increased and now covers other category-A prisoners such as murderers."

The newspaper said the policy was introduced after the September 11 terror attacks in the US and initially restricted to a "handful" of prisons but was now said to have been extended nationwide.

It said documents showed the team led by Mr Kearney had also been ordered to search and copy the contents of visitors' bags - items which it was alleged included "confidential documents left by lawyers".

Mr Straw has already asked former high court judge Sir Christopher Rose, the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, to conduct an inquiry into the claims surrounding Mr Khan.

His case raised particular controversy because it appeared to breach the "Wilson Doctrine" which bars the bugging of MPs.

Mr Davis said: "It is inconceivable that this action has taken place without ministerial approval.

"Whilst there can be reasons for eavesdropping on legal meetings, it is such a serious infringement of people's rights that there has to be a very good reason.

"It can put the trial at risk which means that serious crimes may go unpunished."

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said he was "astonished" at the allegations.

Human rights lawyer Muddassar Arani told the newspaper she had suspected her conversations had been bugged during prison visits but this had been denied by the authorities, adding: "... if there is sensitive information I tell them [clients] to write it down and show it to me or lean over and whisper it."

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Sir Christopher Rose will report back in due course.

"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.

"It would not usually be appropriate for the Prison Service to question the police's decision to monitor an individual; nor would it expect the police to share details of the intelligence cases underpinning its monitoring operations.

"It would not be appropriate to discuss particular prisoners or other individuals about whom there have been newspaper reports."

Geoffrey Robertson QC said there needed to be an immediate investigation into the claims - warning that if true they could lead to violent offenders such as Huntley being released.

"The end result, if that is the case, is that these cases will have to be brought back to court and in my view the courts will react with such fury as a matter of principle, those whose conversations were bugged will have to be let out," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Mr Huhne said: "If it is the case that we have gone beyond what may be an isolated incident - one or two such buggings of such conversations which might occur in the extreme circumstances of a threat to public life and security - and that it is actually true that the Government authorised a bugging suite at the prison so that there is actually routine snooping on these conversations, then I find that absolutely appalling.

"Not merely because it offends against one key principle on which the legal system has been based but also appalling because it is going to be totally counter productive - the idea that this would not get out is absolute madness and as soon as that does get out it means of course that it is no longer going to provide any useful information."

"It is quite astonishing and we need an immediate inquiry into exactly what has gone on."

Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay said: "The only surprise I have is that people are surprised.

"I and others have tried to draw attention to the abuse of powers by senior police officers over recent years, often only to be mocked.

"In my view this indefensible situation arises from the cocktail of supine ministers and the total absence of any Parliamentary oversight of the security and intelligence services."