On Monday Hamilton told the court that the box in question turned up early
last Thursday morning in a “disused letterbox” that had been
detached from its normal position and left “in the middle of the
footpath” by his back gates. He added that he had found the USB stick,
which contained the digital back-up to one of his BlackBerrys, during a
search of his home two weekends ago.
Hamilton said that he took the USB stick to Access Data, a London-based
company which specialises in BlackBerry devices, before proceedings
commenced last Tuesday in order to ascertain whether there was anything
contentious on it.
Mr Paul Downes QC, representing di Resta, accused Hamilton of telling “lies,
lies and lies” and of having known where the USB stick and the
BlackBerry devices were all along. He suggested that Hamilton had “lost
his nerve” at the evidence he had given and needed to check whether
there was a “smoking gun” on any of the devices.
“You knew that if you had tampered with evidence, that would be a serious
criminal offence,” Downes said.
“I have not tampered with any evidence,” Hamilton replied.
“You knew you were at serious risk of criminal proceedings if you lost
this case,” Downes continued. “You knew perfectly well where the
BlackBerrys were and you knew where the USB stick was. You took them to
Access Data because you needed to be satisfied there wasn’t a serious
smoking gun on this USB stick.”
Downes added that there was “a problem” with Hamilton’s discovery.
“There were eight BlackBerrys [that went missing] but only three have
been returned,” he said. “So the thief has seen the press coverage
and has thought they will return the exact devices [that were relevant]?
That is your theory?”
Hamilton was followed into the stand by another surprise witness, Mr Lee
Banks, who is overseeing the installation of a state-of-the-art security
system at Hamilton’s new home in Tewin, Hertfordshire.
Around 110 CCTV cameras have been installed by Banks and his team, although
none of them point at the back gates.
Hamilton claims that Banks had unfettered access to his iPad during the time
of his separation with di Resta at the start of last year and regularly
changed the times and dates on it.