Can/do the authorities record all mobile phone conversations?

I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.

At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".

The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would the
coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of the
evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?

--
Alasdair.

---

› See More: Can/do the authorities record all mobile phone conversations?

"Alasdair" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
> he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
> Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
> pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.
>
> At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
> addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
> said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".
>
> The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would the
> coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of the
> evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?
>

What on earth gave you the idea that the conversation was recorded?

No doubt the police investigated what calls were made to
the mobile prior to the death, and the wife denied saying anything
that might have driven him to top himself, and the coroner
didn't think she was telling the whole truth.
--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:15:45 -0000, "Graham." <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
>"Alasdair" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
>> he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
>> Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
>> pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.
>>
>> At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
>> addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
>> said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".
>>
>> The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would the
>> coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of the
>> evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?
>>
>
>What on earth gave you the idea that the conversation was recorded?
>
>No doubt the police investigated what calls were made to
>the mobile prior to the death, and the wife denied saying anything
>that might have driven him to top himself, and the coroner
>didn't think she was telling the whole truth.

The why did the coroner say "Only you and I know what was said in that
call" if he didn't really know?

Chris

In message [email protected],
Alasdair <[email protected]> Proclaimed from the tallest tower:

> I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
> he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
> Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
> pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.
>
> At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
> addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
> said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".
>
> The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would the
> coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of the
> evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?

Sure the coroner didn't say:
'Only you ...err.. know what was said in that call...'
or something similar??
Can't believe EVERY phone call in the UK is recorded, just in case it might
be useful in a court...

Even if the calls are being recorded, it would only be the intelligence
services that would have access to the recordings.

--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)

On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:15:46 +0000, Alasdair <[email protected]>
wrote:

>I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
>he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
>Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
>pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.
>
>At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
>addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
>said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".
>
>The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would the
>coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of the
>evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?

Only the number, time, location and duration of the call is logged.
The actual speech is not kept.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org

"Alasdair" wrote:

> I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
> he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
> Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
> pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.
>
> At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
> addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
> said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".
>
> The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would the
> coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of the
> evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?

With respect the above seems a little far fetched.

What kind of mobile phone call can cause someone of otherwise sound mind to
commit suicide? What kind of person drives around with a handy hose in the
car boot ready to gas themselves with? And what kind of coroner outside a
Columbo movie leans over an oak table and says "you, lady, have an awful lot
to answer for"?

There are so many millions of overextended, pointless, banal mobile
conversations (have you listened to anyone on the bus/train/street lately?)
I doubt the authorities have the hard drive space to record them all. But
perhaps they do, and perhaps it's all done by the same department that uses
hypnosis/mind control/cosmic rays to program people to top themselves when
the missus calls to remind them to pick up some eggs on the way home.

Frustrated of Wapping wrote:
> "Alasdair" wrote:
>
>> I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
>> he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
>> Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
>> pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.
>>
>> At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
>> addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
>> said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".
>>
>> The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would
>> the coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of
>> the evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?
>
> With respect the above seems a little far fetched.
>
> What kind of mobile phone call can cause someone of otherwise sound
> mind to commit suicide?

Hmm, I could think of a few things and who's to say he wasn't "on the brink"
so to speak before hand?

> What kind of person drives around with a
> handy hose in the car boot ready to gas themselves with?

That struck me as a bit odd. Also, with a catalysed petrol car or even a
diesel, I believe it's pretty hard to gas yourself with the fumes now.
Can't say I've tried though. ;-)

> And what
> kind of coroner outside a Columbo movie leans over an oak table and
> says "you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for"?

That's the most unlikely bit of all. ;-) I suspect there was a certain
amount of embellishment of the story by the elderly relatives.

Tim

In news[email protected],
Chris Blunt <[email protected]> typed, for some strange, unexplained reason:
: On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:15:45 -0000, "Graham." <[email protected]> wrote:

[snip]

: >No doubt the police investigated what calls were made to
: >the mobile prior to the death, and the wife denied saying anything
: >that might have driven him to top himself, and the coroner
: >didn't think she was telling the whole truth.
:
: The why did the coroner say "Only you and I know what was said in that
: call" if he didn't really know?

Have you never heard of bluffing..?

Ivor

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:39:28 -0000, "Ivor Jones"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>In news[email protected],
>Chris Blunt <[email protected]> typed, for some strange, unexplained reason:
>: On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:15:45 -0000, "Graham." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>[snip]
>
>: >No doubt the police investigated what calls were made to
>: >the mobile prior to the death, and the wife denied saying anything
>: >that might have driven him to top himself, and the coroner
>: >didn't think she was telling the whole truth.
>:
>: The why did the coroner say "Only you and I know what was said in that
>: call" if he didn't really know?
>
>Have you never heard of bluffing..?

"Bluffing" in this context would mean lying. This is supposed to be a
proper legal investigation to determine the cause of someone's death.
A local coroner should not be lying when dealing with something as
serious as this.

Chris

In message [email protected],
Chris Blunt <[email protected]> Proclaimed from the tallest tower:

> On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:39:28 -0000, "Ivor Jones"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> In news[email protected],
>> Chris Blunt <[email protected]> typed, for some strange, unexplained
>> reason:
>>> On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:15:45 -0000, "Graham." <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>>> No doubt the police investigated what calls were made to
>>>> the mobile prior to the death, and the wife denied saying anything
>>>> that might have driven him to top himself, and the coroner
>>>> didn't think she was telling the whole truth.
>>>
>>> The why did the coroner say "Only you and I know what was said in
>>> that call" if he didn't really know?
>>
>> Have you never heard of bluffing..?
>
> "Bluffing" in this context would mean lying. This is supposed to be a
> proper legal investigation to determine the cause of someone's death.
> A local coroner should not be lying when dealing with something as
> serious as this.
>
> Chris

No, but I'd imagine it is fairly common practice to 'pretend' you know
something, in an attempt to get a suspect to admit to it... Maybe not in
open court, but certainly when interrogating suspects whilst investigating a
crime.

--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)

Alasdair wrote:
> I was visiting an elderly couple whose son committed suicide. While
> he was driving his car, he got a call from his wife on his mobile.
> Whatever the wife said to him in the call apparently caused him to
> pull into a lay-by and gas himself with the exhaust.

This seems extremely unlikely. Pulling into a lay-by implies that the
engine was warmed up, and so the catalyst would be hot too. I don't
think you could kill yourself with car exhaust fumes any more, even in
the unlikely event that you had the means to pipe them into the car with
you in a lay-by.

> At the inquest, the coroner apparently leaned over his oak table,
> addressed the wife and said to her: "Only you and I know what was
> said in that call but, you, lady, have an awful lot to answer for".

That is completely impossible. There are four "possibilities":

1. The wife had told the coroner what she had said. How could he be sure
that she had not told anyone else?

2. The phone call had been "bugged". In that case, lots of other people
would have heard the recording and read the transcript.

3. The coroner was lying.

4. This whole question is completly untrue and none of it happened at all.

My assumption is that the answer is 4.

> The wife obviously knew what she said to her husband but how would the
> coroner know what was said in the call? If the call was part of the
> evidence, why was a transcript not read out in open court?

Mobile calls are not recorded. The call setup records are kept, but not
the content of the call.

However, ALL phone calls can be subject to monitoring, but unless the
mum or the son was a suspected terrorist or thought to be involved in
serious crime, it won't have been happening.