SouthFork Crown Court, London - (Ass Mess): Perma-tanned wannabe banking heir Matthew Mellon and four pals are in the dock today charged with paying corrupt ex-cops to spy on his ex-wife Tamara by hacking into her electronic mail for blackmail purposes.
Prosecution attorneys said today that Mellon hired a "Hackers Are Us" branch of agency Active Investigation Services because he was too damned scared of what she might say to the press about some highly illegal sources of his private income during their divorce negotiations.
Mellon had previously gone on record that his many attempts at rehab were financed by trade in the very substance that got him hooked inn the first place.
His wife, head of the Jimmy Choo shoe empire allegedly dumped him after one snort too many ruined their marriage and tainted her business reputation.
The prosecution has told the court today that Mellon sought incriminating information "he was not getting through the court process".
Mellon was disinherited by his banking family at the age of 25 and has never had a "hope in hell" of getting is hands on the estimated $4 million fortune that has now been securely ring-fenced from him in a dispute over his criminal activities involving cocaine trade.
Also in the dock with Mellon is his lynchpin partner in crime ex-cop Scott Gelsthorpe, 32, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, who has been alleged to have helped run the snooping agency with former colleague Jeremy Young.
Prosecution attorneys told the court that Young has done a plea bargain admitting to countless conspiracy counts while he was on long-term sick leave while still a serving officer at the time of the offence .
Also in the dock are 58 year old David Carroll of Highgate, north London, his son Daniel Carroll, 36, from Westminster, central London and Maurice Kennedy, 58, of Barnet, north London.
The gang has been accused along with Mellon of 15 counts of conspiracy alleging fraud, the unauthorised modification of computer material, the unlawful interception of computer material, and criminal damage.
Former wife Tamara Mellon is said to be delighted that the long arm of the law has caught up at last with her snooping, cheating, snorting ex.
