Last week a man named as Gareth Williams was discovered at his flat in London in a macabre scene. His body appears to have lain undiscovered for around two weeks and was stuffed into a sports bag. So far there have seemingly been no clues as to the murderer’s identity or even a motive that may give investigating officers a reasonable line of enquiry. No signs of forced entry were apparent at the crime scene. The named man was understood to be an MI6 agent, which makes the discovery even more bizarre.

Was Williams on an undercover operation, but his identity was uncovered leading to his death as a cover up? If this was the case, then why was the agents body not discovered earlier. Surely colleagues would have become suspicious earlier and the discovery would have been made earlier. More to the point. If Williams had been assassinated by the opposition, then surely some sort of untraceable method would have been used to kill him rather than what must have clearly been a ‘butchers job’. Of course with there being no notable forced entry into the flat then the murderer could also have been somebody that he knew who was invited inside his flat and who later attacked and killed Williams. Could it have been a work colleague with something to hide or maybe a partner who committed this gruesome act as a result of a violent argument?

Whatever your opinion is, one thing is for sure. We probably won’t find out what really happened for another 50 years! And with spies recently being discovered and uncovered in the US, who says the cold war is over. I don’t think that it ever really was, it had just changed shape and gone further underground.

This week we have had many incidents in the news that have all made us think about security and surveillance. Firstly we had the Russian Spying fiasco in the US, which culminated in the exchange between Russia and USA of each others captured spies. Then, more locally we have had the controversy in relation to the CCTV cameras being erected in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.

I think that many cannot believe that in this day and age we have Russians living undercover in the USA. OK, it is understood that these were not really high profile spies, but still, even though their threat to national security may have been low, the ’sending home’ exchange of each others spies sends a message to the other side that the vigilance of their own security services has not slipped. As regards the cameras in the Muslim community. I wonder if there would have been a big outcry if these cameras had been erected in a community with another predominantly religious group. It is my belief that it would probably not have been newsworthy.

Overall, there has always been a mainly subdued opposition to the introduction of ‘Spy Cameras’ and CCTV in the community. Whilst I do believe that we have to be careful not to erect CCTV and spy cameras for the sake of it; most are put in place after much consultation. Most of us do not concern ourselves with CCTV cameras in our streets or in shops and businesses, because we are law-abiding citizens and their presence does not hold any fear for us.

One final thought on this subject. If there had been far more CCTV cameras in place in Rothbury, then there is a distinct possibility that Police would have cornered Raoul Moat far earlier rather than the fiasco running on for nearly a week. I guess that hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Here at Spy Equipment UK we have in the past consistently been asked for a GPS tracking device that was small and discreet enough to place in a handbag or a piece of luggage in order to track the movements of the carrier of the bag. Now, we all know that ladies carry everything, but the kitchen sink in their handbags, so hiding a device in there should really be quite easy shouldn’t it? Maybe not, because in my experience, however disorganised, women still quite often have a system in their bags and even if they don’t, an unusual item discovered whilst rooting round in the bags for the mobile phone or keys would arouse suspicion.

Until now there wasn’t a device compact enough and powerful enough to insert in the lining of a handbag or suitcase without it intruding into the general bag space. However, now at Spy Equipment UK, we have just launched a new extremely compact GPS Logger that is about 38 mm square and thin enough to slip inside the lining of a bag with ease. The iTrail GPS Logger records up to 120 hours of data onto its internal memory that can be subsequently downloaded onto a PC at a later time to give a comprehensive map of movements of the tracker or in fact the item in which it was secreted. With battery-saving technology inside, this device will also lend itself the quick deply vehicle tracking and in some instances it may be possible to hide the device in an unused pocket of a coat.

Whatever you decide, this new compact and sophisticated device is sure to pave the way for a whole host a new applications, devised by those customers who have a need for gathering evidence in this way.

If you look back over the history of surveillance equipment you will see the amazing leaps forwards that we have enjoyed over the past 10 years. GSM bugs have gone from the size of the first mobile phones to no bigger than a car key fob, camera lens have gotten smaller and battery lives increased. This article is a brief look at the possible future for spy & surveillance equipment from Spy Equipment UK.

With the advent of ‘Smart Phones’, and a wider range of operating systems, the conventional Spy Phone software available on the market is no longer compatible. Spy Equipment UK, however, have been working away on this problem for some time and are weeks away from unveiling a new breed of software that will operate on almost all of the latest handsets available. This will allow Spy Equipment UK to offer software packages for use on Blackberries, iPones, Windows Mobile, Android, Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets to name a few.

What about evidence gathering? If something is going to be included in court then time and date stamping is crucial and if GPS location can also be incorporated to show where something was taking place, then the evidence whether video or audio will stand up for itself. In the future we are sure to see new cutting edge devices that automatically include time, date and GPS location stamping as a matter of course. Let’s see them wriggle out of that one!

No Spy Shop would be complete without a collection of wireless spy cameras. These cameras have been around for a few years now as have wireless CCTV cameras. Both of these sets of cameras use the same transmission frequency of 2.4GHz. Wireless Covert Cameras were originally only available as a lower quality CMOS camera unit, but in the last few years, advances have meant that these devices are now available as a CCD unit giving higher quality crisper images.

Here at Spy Equipment UK we have divided our wireless cameras into two main categories. General Stand-alone units and Bespoke devices. The general stand-alone units come with either CCD or CMOS transmitting cameras, but these cameras are ‘naked’, meaning that they have not been built into anything.For a customer who wants to locate a camera into an existing situation (into a current room set-up), then these cameras are relatively cheap to purchase. The Receivers accompanying these cameras are either Receivers with built-in recording capacity (onto SD Card) or a specialised Receiver that plugs into the USB port of a nearby PC. The latter device working in conjunction with included software enables recording of received footage onto the PC. On top of this, this system has software driven movement detection and even enables the user to remotely watch the imagery from another networked PC. Both of these systems can be used at home or in the office to great effect.

Our Bespoke range of wireless cameras are more expensive, but offer some serious advantages. The cameras themselves have been built into a Clock, an Air Freshener, a Smoke Detector and even a Potpourri Bowl. These power-saving units have intelligent modules that enable the battery powered units to stay in position for an extended period of time as opposed to the general stand alone units that can burn a standard battery out within 3 to 4 hours. Coupled to an intelligent Receiver/Recorder and one of the triggers - PIR, or Door Catch or Floor Matt, the system enables intelligent recording in response to movement or other triggers ensuring that only the relevant events are recorded. These units can be used in the office or at home, but are ideal where an extended and unattended monitoring period is required. Maybe when proof is required that a certain individual is entering a restricted area or stealing from this area or even for discreet monitoring out-of-hours. Maybe in a domestic situation when proof of an illicit liaison is taking place during the day when everybody should be at work.

Whatever the situation, it is now possible to select a wireless camera system that can really work for you and choosing one that fits-the-bill really it is all dependent upon the situation that needs monitoring and of course your budget.

Official news reports have just revealed a British Spy Fiasco. The new head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Sir John Sawyers, has been subject of a security breach after his Wife posted personal details about him and the family on the social networking site Facebook. The Facebook profile was hurriedly withdrawn when it was discovered that details of where the live, where they holiday, who their friends and family are were found to be included.

Facebook membership and that of other social networking sites has grown rapidly over the past two years. Once it was the preserve of young adults, in their later teens and twenties, but now membership has expanded to include adults into their thirties, forties and beyond. Behind the benefits lies a more sinister trend. As with Friends Reunited, Facebook and other networking sites have become the hotbed medium for illicit affairs, but suddenly discovering your partner on one of these sites without your knowledge is just one sign. Here are other common factors:

• Your partner has suddenly started taking pride in their appearance
• They have started to work more overtime or shift working time has changed
• Their work suddenly involves training courses that keep them away overnight regularly
• They spend more solitary time on the Internet in chat rooms
• They take up a new hobby that takes them outside the home
• They are very guarded with their phone or you suddenly discover a second phone
• They have recently started to socialise with ‘friends’ on nights out
• They have gone off sex
• They suddenly want more sex or want to try out new things sexually

These are some of the signs, but the list goes on. Now more than ever it is possible to conduct your own investigation prior to calling in an expert. Spy Equipment UK offer a wide variety of solutions. Monitor their phone, monitor their whereabouts, monitor their computer activity, install a camera or a listening device to capture the evidence. Taking control of your own destiny not only empowers you, but also makes such financial sense….

Spy Equipment UK have just released their latest covert tracking solution for hire and what a success it has already been! The latest in vehicle tracking devices is now available to hire rather than buy. After many requests by prospective customers, we are now offering our GPS Evolution magnetic tacking device for hire for 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks.

This special bespoke tracking solution is the latest and most powerful vehicle surveillance solution on the market today, but with a purchase price of just under £730.00 the unique unit was out of reach of some customers who only had a short-term need for such a powerful tracking solution, which is normally the preserve of specialised users including the Police and Private Investigators. Spy Equipment UK have therefore decided to make the device available for short-term hire to cater for the needs of the temporary user. At £150 + VAT for a weeks hire, the unit is now accessible to a wider range of customers, who would otherwise have had to manage without the benefits that the GPS Evolution brings.

Already in the first few days of release, numerous customers have taken up the offer. So, if you have a need for the best covert tracking solution available, then why not log on to Spy Equipment UK to secure yours now.

Spy Equipment UK is proud to announce the addition of a downloadable catalogue for those customers who wish to have a paper-based brochure of all of the products that we offer.

The addition of the catalogue was as a result of repeated requests from past and present customers. Some customers are unable to access the Internet very often and as a result it is often difficult for them to spend enough time to peruse our entire product range. Now this is made easy with the addition of the catalogue. The forty four page PDF document gives pictures, brief descriptions, prices and product codes in a simple format. All or part sections of the catalogue can be printed to suit an individuals needs. For more detailed information on a product a re-visit to the Spy Equipment site will reveal further detail. On some products a data sheet has been added, again in a PDF downloadable and printable format. Only a small amount of products have data sheets at present, but this is being increased on a regular basis.

The Spy Equipment UK Catalogue is easy to find. Simply click on the link located on the lower left of each page to obtain your copy.

Spy Equipment UK has just launched their most sophisticated counter-surveillance device yet. Commonly known as a Bug Sweeper, the SweepHawk Plus, which is one of the most comprehensive RF detection tools available, offers additional facilities to the, previous benchmark countermeasures system, the SweepHawk.
The Plus version does not supersede the original SweepHawk, which is still available, but instead it provides additional probes that are required to detect certain eaves-dropping equipment that form part of the armoury of a real technical surveillance specialist. The frequency scan range of the SweepHawk Plus has been extended up to 8 GHz to enable detection of the much specialised transmitting devices that are not so commonly available. In addition to this, the new system offers an Infrared/Laser Probe to enable detection of listening devices that use this very uncommon system. In addition to this is a Mains-Carrier Probe, which can detect a transmitter located anywhere along a mains power wiring system.
This entire system has been reworked to give improved sensitivity and pick up and is now able to disseminate between Analogue and Digital signals, thereby enabling easier identification of spurious frequencies present during a ‘bug sweep’. Contained in a purpose-built stylish case, the SweepHawk Plus provides a fully portable system that meets the latest requirements of the most professional Counter-Surveillance Specialist.

Here at Spy Equipment UK we are continually evaluating our pricing structure. Customers sometimes consider that some items that we stock have a relatively high price compared to other similar products on the market and our products are invariably higher in price than everyday electronic products available at high street shops. So, why is this?

There are a number of things to consider here. The product range that is offered by Spy Equipment UK has been specifically chosen only after rigorous testing and evaluation to ensure that we can offer items of  quality with ease of use. This means that if you see a similar product to one on our site that is offered substantially cheaper elsewhere, then it will almost certainly be a lower quality item. You may find similar products for sale on auction sites, but it should be remembered that Spy Equipment UK offer a guarrantee, expertise and of course support over the telephone or via e-mail.

So why are Spy Shop products generally more highly-priced than other non-spy electronic products offered at high street stores? Well, you will not find products at the high street chains that can give the same facilities that specialised spy equipment items can. Generally available electronic goods are manufactured in the millions whereby the specialist-built spy equipment products are manufactured in the thousands so design and tooling costs over much smaller batch runs make the end product price much higher - so in summary what you are buying are a range of high quality specialist-built products that cannot be purchased at the high street electrical retailers.