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06. 11. 09. - 15:00

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06. 11. 09. - 15:00

Media Insider - The UN murder investigation

By David Rogers

Any newspaper that misses a story will always enjoy the chance to take a pot shot at their rivals by rubbishing their work if given the chance.

And so it is with regards to a certain Austrian quality paper that did not follow the others in covering the recent death at the United Nations in Vienna.

Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring possible illegal nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna.

For those that missed it the Austrian quality paper concerned wrote that the police investigation into the death of Mister Hampton had been closed, with no indication that his death was murder. The report concluded "police and prosecutors are no longer investigating - the suicide file is closed."

However - as always this is only half the story. In fact the official police statement is that their investigation has now gathered all the evidence and collected all the statements that they believed necessary to conclude their report and that, as the Vienna police confirmed to the Austrian Times today, "The police investigation is finished. There is no evidence of murder, but there is also no evidence that proves that it was not murder."

In addition Austrian police are not those that decide about such matters - they are responsible for gathering the evidence and then hand it to the prosecutors - and it is their decision that ultimately counts.

The Vienna police also confirmed that the results of the second autopsy had also been sent to the prosecutors in Vienna, which is an additional factor which will be taken into account when deciding how to proceed. As a police spokesman said: "With regards to the second autopsy - the private autopsy results will also be sent to the Vienna State prosecutor who are now running the investigation."

The Austrian quality paper also confirmed that "prosecutors and police have closed their investigation with no evidence of murder", however the reality is that only the police part of the investigation is finished - the prosecution perusal of the paperwork is still continuing. It is their opinion that counts.

Meanwhile, although little is being released from official sources there have been developments outside.

Two Austrian Times reporters last week attempted to contact people connected with the case - they found at the home of one key witness that there were two people parked in two separate cars in a downtown area of Vienna - because they were smartly dressed in suits they clearly stood out. When the reporters attempted to leave after ringing the doorbell they were followed across town by the men. The two men then waited in their cars while the reporters were in a coffee shop - at which point the reporters left through a rear door.

It could be that the speculation around the case has meant police protection has been provided to some of those involved. It seems reasonable. Or the two men could have been employed by another organisation. It seems unlikely they were police officers on protection duty as it's clear there was nobody in the flat and in addition if they want protection duty -- it would seem strange for both to leave to follow someone that visited the address. Official police sources declined to comment on the mystery men - referring all questions to prosecutors.

Then there is the story of the second autopsy. As we reported at the weekend Professor Kathrin Yen, of the Ludwig Boltzmann Forensic Institute in Graz, which specialises in traumatology research, said she had more tests to complete on Mr Hampton.
She said one possible theory was that Mr Hampton was carried to the 17th floor from his workplace on the sixth floor and thrown to his death.

Professor Yen used new forensic techniques to detect internal bruising caused by strangulation which would not be visible to the eye.

She added: "In my opinion, it does not look like suicide. My example is that somebody took him up to the top floor and took him down.

"At the moment I don’t have the police reports. We did a CT scan. From the external exam, I saw injuries on the neck but these were not due to strangulation."

However Austria's quality media was happy to contact the doctor this week and quote her denying the claims.

To quote our Austrian quality newspaper friend again: "The Graz expert Kathrin Yen has in reality never make a claim about murder." The publication then quotes her saying: "Where these claims came from is completely unclear to me."

In fact as anybody that reads this column knows the mysterious claims were from Kathrin Yen. Her claims that she never said them are not something that this newspaper has any opinion on - however unlike the Austrian quality media we did check with the reporter from the respected British daily newspaper the mail on Sunday which carried out the interview - and she confirmed not only was everything said as reported - and not only did she take a shorthand note of the interview as she should under English law - but that she also had a full recording of the interview.

She also confirmed that they had not received any request to withdraw the article or been contacted by any Austrian media to check whether her version of events was correct.

If it is true that the quotes attributed to Kathrin Yen were correct - why has this now apparently been retracted by her as appears to be the case.

To me all this shows that if you are going to criticise - then you really need to make sure your own house is in order. The Austrian quality paper for example which we are referring to took great delight in highlighting the fact that initial tabloid reports indicated Mister Hampton had fallen from a window - when in fact it was quite clear that he had fallen from an internal stairwell. This sort of error however with breaking news is quite common and is quickly corrected in later reports - it is an easy mistake to make when the usual official sources refuse to make any comment.

The quality newspaper we are referring to in its report this week claimed Austrian tabloid newspapers such as the Kronen Zeitung, Österreich and Heute had reported on the British story two days later. In fact the report was published in the Mail on Sunday and then appeared the next day - Monday - in Austrian media.

Unlike the papers that reported incorrectly about the fall from a window - the Austrian quality paper could have checked that one small fact with a dozen sources. But then again perhaps Der Standards are not what they used to be.

Austrian Times

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