Everyone who knows me knows that I generally don’t wade into the muck and mire of celebrity lives or even hacks of celebrities’ iCloud accounts. I’m staunchly on record that even celebrities have a right to privacy. Over the weekend, though, I wound up interviewing a UK man who had involvement in selling Pippa Middleton’s hacked iCloud photos. The photos allegedly include nude pictures of her fiance as well as pictures of members of the royal family and pictures of her wedding dress for her upcoming nuptials.
The man, known as “Crafty Cockney” among other nicks, was already known to me from another unrelated matter. When he contacted me and happened to mention that he was trying to sell the pictures, I asked him for an interview – which he agreed to.
Over Friday and Saturday, as his time permitted, we chatted about the matter, his role, and the response of media outlets to his proffered sale. But then suddenly – mid-sentence, actually – he stopped chatting. I have not been able to contact him since then.
I would find out a few hours later that Scotland Yard had made an arrest in the case.
You can read the details of my interview of Crafty Cockney over on Vocativ.
Update: The arrested man has been named in an article in The Sun as Nathan Wyatt, aka “Crafty Cockney” or “Mas.”