PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "All three individuals, who were never charged, were released from any further investigation. But cops were baffled as they continued to be notified of child abuse content being downloaded and shared from the same address."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In light of the findings, the falsely accused trio took their case to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal. They argued their rights under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act had been breached. This included the right to a private family life, which they claimed was infringed by the force’s RIPA requests for data from BT. The tribunal ultimately ruled in favour of Dyfed Powys Police, although they accepted the wrongly accused had suffered “far-reaching consequences”."
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STORY: "CABLE CHAOS "Three people wrongly accused of child abuse after BT engineer accidentally crossed internet wires in street cabinet" by News Reporter Simmer Raemason, published by The Sun, on October 20, 2025. (Summer is a reporter at The Sun who covers UK and foreign news. Summer joined The Sun in August 2022 and has previously worked as a Court and Crime Reporter.)
SUB-HEADING: "The false allegations saw their lives fall apart."
GIST: "THREE people were wrongly accused of child abuse after a BT engineer accidentally crossed internet wires in a street cabinet.
Cops were investigating the downloading and sharing of indecent imagines of children and tracked down the “suspects” to an address in Wales.
But officers were taken to the wrong property after a BT Openreach broadband engineer previously made a wiring mistake.
The UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) found two search warrants were issued and saw the three claimants have their electronic devices seized.
Amid the investigation, the trio saw their lives torn apart.
Social services reported the allegations to their families, while all three were forced to inform their employers.
All three individuals, who were never charged, were released from any further investigation.
But cops were baffled as they continued to be notified of child abuse content being downloaded and shared from the same address.
Officers went to BT and enlisted the company’s help to solve the mix-up.
“The second and third claimants were both present at the premises when the first warrant was executed; the premises were unoccupied when the second search took place.
“Electronic devices belonging to each of the claimants were seized by the respondent.
“Subsequently, it was determined that the Internet Protocol addresses associated with the offending had been misattributed to the first claimant, due to crossed wires in a local telecommunications street cabinet.”
BT discovered the real criminal was living very close to the home of the first claimant.
“The correct culprit responsible for the offending was then identified and prosecuted,” the IPT added.
‘Address X’ was later raided and the occupant was arrested on possession of child abuse content.
The defendant was then convicted of related offences.
The IPT continued: “Following a network test involving the temporary break and restoration of service at both addresses, BT identified that a pair of crossed connections in the local network had caused a high likelihood that the IP addresses had been misattributed as between ‘Address X’ and the home address of the first claimant.
“BT explained that approximately eight years previously, two wires within a street cabinet servicing both addresses had been inadvertently crossed.
“In consequence, the authentication result for the IP address relating to ‘Address X’ had been incorrectly attributed to the first claimant’s address.”
In light of the findings, the falsely accused trio took their case to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
They argued their rights under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act had been breached.
This included the right to a private family life, which they claimed was infringed by the force’s RIPA requests for data from BT.
The tribunal ultimately ruled in favour of Dyfed Powys Police, although they accepted the wrongly accused had suffered “far-reaching consequences.”
The entire story can be read at:
three-wrongly-accused-child-abuse-bt-crossed-wires
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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