The Metropolitan Police are re-examining the reported theft of Morgan McSweeney’s phone as questions loom around the incident, according to reports.
Formerly the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Mr McSweeney’s phone was apparently snatched from a cyclist in October last year.
The police got in-touch with Mr McSweeney on Thursday, requesting a formal statement about the alleged crime, the Telegraph reports.
Detectives are allegedly now examining CCTV footage from the Westminster street where Mr McSweeney said his phone was snatched.
However, the force fear much of the relevant footage will have already been deleted, as recordings are typically only stored for three months.
It has also emerged that Sir Keir’s former advisor failed to respond to follow-up requests from officers asking whether he had been able to locate the missing device using its built-in tracker.
Further eyebrows were raised over the incident when it was revealed that during his 999 call, Mr McSweeney gave officers the wrong location – stating he was on Belgrave Street in east London, rather than Belgrave Road in Westminster.
He did not correct the handler when the wrong address was repeated back to him, it has been alleged.
Morgan McSweeney’s phone, containing messages to Peter Mandelson, was stolen last year | GETTY
Downing Street have subsequently wiped the device remotely and disabled its tracking technology, so it is unable to locate.
No10 has refused to say whether any attempt was made to find the phone before it was wiped.
The phone has sparked much interest as it potentially held evidence of key messages between Mr McSweeney and the disgraced peer, Lord Peter Mandelson.
Opposition politicians believe the messages could of revealed the true nature of the pair’s communications and whether Lord Mandelson influenced decision-making within the Labour government.
MORE TO FOLLOW…
