How I helped nail the 'manhood' spammer - 2

When I called him he denied sending any spam e-mails: "It wasn't me mate, we closed all that down years ago. I'm not controlling any computers, mate." Shane and his brother Lance were well known spammers who ran a global operation with another man, Jody Smith, in the US. For years they had exploited the lack of anti-spamming legislation in New Zealand but the country had recently brought in new laws and the authorities were determined to shut down Elite Herbal.

Planned raid

E-mails subsequently shown to me by law enforcement sources showed that shortly after my phone call Shane Atkinson had contacted his suppliers in India asking what was going on.

I had already been in touch with them and they also wanted to know why a BBC journalist was asking awkward questions.

New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs had been planning to raid Atkinson's house in early 2008 but following my phone call they were forced to act. They raided Shane's house in December and took away his computers. It meant officers working over the holiday. As one later told me I wasn't their favourite journalist.
To make matters worse, the case led to headlines in New Zealand asking why a British reporter had got to Atkinson before the police.

One memorable interview with a radio station in Auckland began with the question "Why are the police here so crap?"

You don't get that kind of question from John Humphrys, so I fudged a reply and wrapped it up as quickly as I could. It wasn't long before New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs got in touch. In early 2008 I received an e-mail asking if I could provide any material for the investigation into Shane Atkinson and the Elite Herbal spamming operation?

An affidavit followed asking for as much information as possible. Not surprisingly BBC producer Richard Vadon and I declined to hand over anything that would reveal any sources but after lengthy conversations with lawyers and the BBC's policy advisers, we did give them some material which had already been in the programme.

£150,000 a month

For several months everything went quiet. I assumed my spam adventure was over. Apart that is from the scores of spam e-mails I was still getting every day. Then in the autumn of 2008 two officers from New Zealand's anti-spam unit flew over to visit me. Atkinson was refusing to plead guilty and they wanted to know if I would testify should the case come to court. I agreed, in principle uneasy at the prospect of appearing in the witness box. All of this for a civil case, which at the most would mean Atkinson getting a fine.