- Former police chief was investigated over relationships with criminals
- Ray Adams headed Met department before working for media mogul Rupert Murdoch
- He was in charge of security for Murdoch's pay-TV empire
By Ian Gallagher and Allan Hall
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A former police commander embroiled in an alleged plot to destroy Sky's biggest rival was once investigated over his links to one of Britain's most notorious criminals.
Ray Adams, who headed a secretive security unit at a company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, faced an inquiry over corruption allegations and his relationship with killer Kenneth Noye.
Last week Mr Adams was under fire again after Panorama claimed he used a hacker to undermine the business of ITV-owned ONdigital, an allegation he denies.
'Convict informants': Former police chief Ray Adams, left, had links to notorious criminals including road rage killer Kenneth Noye, right
Is is understood he ran Noye as an informant for many years.
Noye was cleared of murdering a police officer in 1985 but was later convicted of the 1996 road-rage killing of Stephen Cameron.
He fled the country after stabbing Mr Cameron at a junction of the M25 but was eventually tracked down in Spain and convicted in 2000.
HACK INVESTIGATION SLAMMED BY 'VICTIM'
A former Minister has criticised the police's phone-hacking inquiry after he was contacted about being a potential victim.
Lord Hesketh said that he 'burst out laughing' when he was rung by an officer about a possible breach of privacy.
The peer, 61, said it was 'remarkable' that Scotland Yard thought he was a target simply because a News of the World reporter had his phone number in a diary – as it had been in the public telephone directory for 'many years'.
He has dismissed the inquiry as 'a waste of police time'.
Hesketh, a junior Minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major who defected to UKIP last year, was told his name and number were on a list found in a diary belonging to Clive Goodman, former Royal editor of the News of the World, who was jailed in 2007 for intercepting voicemails.
He said: 'It was my old home telephone number and it had been in the local directory for many years, which leads me to believe that Mr Goodman probably only had to call directory enquiries to obtain it. My experience illustrates very well that this inquiry has gone far too far.
'I don't have much confidence in where this vastly expensive police operation is going. This is public money. It's wasting police time, too, and it is political correctness running riot.'
Mr Adams headed the Met's criminal intelligence department SO11 before retiring prematurely from Scotland Yard in 1993 with back problems. He later joined NDS, a subsidiary of News Corporation, and was responsible for the security of Murdoch's pay-TV empire.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that while in this role he tried unsuccessfully to recruit brilliant German computer hacker Boris Floricic, 26, who died in mysterious circumstances in 1998.
In 1987 the corruption investigation examined claims that Mr Adams and other officers had taken bribes and had improper relations with criminal informants. Three years after the investigation began the Director of Public Prosecutions announced there was no evidence to justify charges against Mr Adams and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
However, the link to Noye resurfaced after Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death in 1993 – three years before the road-rage killing. One of Mr Adams's last acts before leaving the Met was to write to the lawyer acting for Stephen's parents.
The letter formed the basis of two days of hearings in Sir William Macpherson's public inquiry into the case in 1998. The main allegation against Mr Adams was that he had links with Noye, who in turn had links with Clifford Norris, a criminal whose son David was this year found guilty of Stephen's murder.
It was suggested that he tried to impede the arrest of the suspects. The Macpherson report found no evidence of any dishonesty, collusion or corruption by Mr Adams but noted that there were 'strange features' to his evidence.
Meanwhile Panorama claimed last week that NDS stole secret codes from ONdigital before passing them to hacker Lee Gibling. His website shared the details, resulting in counterfeit viewing cards that allowed widespread free access.
Vital role: Rupert Murdoch put the security of his pay-TV empire in the hands of Mr Adams after the Met chief retired from Scotland Yard
Mr Gibling said he was given the information by Mr Adams, who paid him 60,000 a year. But Mr Adams denied all the claims.
Around the same time Mr Adams tried to hire Mr Floricic, who turned him down. Four months later he was found hanged, but his corpse was standing with both feet on the ground.
Yesterday an NDS spokeswoman said: 'NDS uses industry contacts to catch both hackers and pirates. All NDS staff and their contacts operate under a clear code of conduct.'
Mr Adams could not be contacted.
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