Three men have been formally charged in connection with the theft of personal records belonging to West Ham United vice chair Karren Brady.
The trio - named as Richard Forrest, 30, Lee Stewart, 39 and Howard Hill, 58 will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 28th November to answer fraud charges in relation to the unlawful acquisition of Brady's private telephone records.Hill, who has since resigned from accountants PKF was an employee of the company at the time they were hired by Tottenham Hotspur FC to investigate the details behind West Ham's previously successful bid to become anchor tenants at the Olympic Stadium.
West Ham United initially contacted Police in July 2011 following claims in the Sunday Times that employees' personal records had been surreptitiously gained by corporate investigators.
In the same week the Olympic Park Legacy Company also registered a complaint of a similar nature after it was suggested chief executive Andrew Altman had been targeted.
A second OLPC member - Ms Dionne Knight, who was subsequently suspended following the revelation that she had been temporarily employed by West Ham as a consultant - was said to have been spied upon by the investigators at her home address.
The charges follow a year-long investigation by the Metropolitan Police. A fourth individual remains on bail whilst two others have who were arrested in connection with the affair have been released without charge.
* Brady has revealed that she is investigating the circumstances regarding Savio Nsereko's 2009 move from Brescia to West Ham.
"Just before this board took over, the club paid a huge amount to Brescia for the German Under-21 who took part in a handful of matches and then departed for Fiorentina at a fraction of the price," she said in her latest tabloid column.
"The deal is something I’m investigating."
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