Britain’s Private Investigators on Trial
In the 1970s private investigators in the UK came under attack for their distasteful methods and dubious legality. What did it mean to have a right to privacy?
In the autumn of 1974 Barrie Quartermain, a Rolls Royce driving, six-foot five private investigator who had recently been on the run, was sentenced to three years in prison for perverting the course of justice. The judge ruled that he had ‘stooped to every sort of dirty and dishonest trick’. Quartermain was already something of a minor celebrity, willing to appear on TV or give interviews to a press drawn in by boasts about how easily he could uncover people’s secrets. By the time of his arrest, Quartermain ran what was described as Britain’s ‘largest private investigation empire’, made up of a network of 17 companies, with a nerve centre in the otherwise sleepy southwest London suburb of Surbiton. When police raided the building, they found bugging devices, tape recorders, house breaking tools, and post office uniforms. The equipment was openly on display and featured prominently in his own promotional material.
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