Steve Whittamore

Steve Whittamore is a private investigator who was convicted in 2005 for illegally obtaining secret information. He is currently newsworthy due to ongoing court proceedings examining the relationship between Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, and private investigators. Whittamore has testified that the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday remained his “best customers” even after his conviction, with his work for ANL spanning from 1998 to 2007. This revelation is significant because it raises questions about the extent to which these newspapers continued to engage in potentially illegal or unethical practices to obtain information, even after Whittamore's conviction brought the issue to public attention. The current proceedings involve allegations that the Mail on Sunday misled the Leveson inquiry regarding its use of corrupt private investigators, including activities like landline tapping and bugging.