The former police officer at the heart of the row over the bugging of an MP has claimed he was asked to eavesdrop on a second legally-privileged conversation, between a terror suspect and his solicitor.
Mark Kearney said that he was put under pressure by an officer from the West Midlands Police to listen in to what the solicitor and his client were discussing during a prison visit, according to documents obtained by BBC2's Newsnight.
The same document records Mr Kearney's claim that he was pressurised by the Metropolitan Police to bug the meeting between Tooting MP Sadiq Khan and his constituent Babar Ahmad, who is being held at Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes, while he fights deportation to the US on charges of raising funds for terror groups.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has launched an inquiry into the claims surrounding Mr Khan. He confirmed on Tuesday that he was made aware in December of concerns relating to Mr Khan's visit, but insisted he did not learn of the bugging allegations until last weekend.
In detailed defence documents obtained by Newsnight, which were prepared for an unrelated case in which Mr Kearney is fighting allegations that he leaked information to a local newspaper, the former police officer states that he was unhappy at being asked to record conversations which he knew were legally privileged.
On the Khan case, he said he "came under significant pressure from the Metropolitan Police requesting that we covertly record a social visit between a (suspected) terrorist detainee and an MP. This was authorised by the Metropolitan Police.
"This request was very difficult. The MP concerned was Sadiq Khan, the member for Tooting. Mr Khan is a prominent human rights lawyer. This concerned me on the grounds that the recording may cross the barriers of legal privilege."
Mr Kearney, who was an intelligence officer at Woodhill, said he asked for advice from senior officers but received no reply.
He also states that on a separate occasion he was asked to bug a meeting between a solicitor and his client.
"I had continual pressure from a West Midlands Police officer in relation to a recording of a legal visit between a suspected terrorist inmate and his solicitor. I told him this type of activity was rare and it would need authorisation at the highest level."
