Overview
This dossier contains confidential records for Derek Hastings.
Material is provisional, cross-referenced from recovered files, protected records, and field notes.
COT / MI5 Case File
Restricted
Eyes Only
Maritime Evidence Dossier
Derek Hastings
Subject: Derek Hastings
COMPARTMENTED TECHNICAL DEBRIEF
SUBJECT: Derek Hastings
CLASSIFICATION: SECRET // TECHNICAL SOURCES
REFERENCE: CONTROLLED COPY // COT/NATIONAL/2035/CTC059
Document control
CASE REFERENCE: COT/NATIONAL/2035/CTC059
SUBJECT: Derek Hastings
CENTRAL RECORD: COT9D1293BA99AA8
RANK / APPOINTMENT: Forensic technician
ORGANISATION: Southampton Marine Forensics
DATE OF BIRTH: 1997-03-28
PLACE / NATIONALITY: Southampton, Hampshire, British
INTERVIEW STATUS: Witness / account holder
LOCATION: Secure interview suite — location withheld
DATE: 19 September 2035
LEAD AUTHORITY: National Cyber Security Centre — Joint Technical Cell
RECORDING MEDIA: Two sealed digital masters and one independent evidential hash
DISTRIBUTION: Named recipients only. No automated onward distribution.
NOTE: Handling notice. This document contains operational, personal and evidential material. It may be read only by a person with both the required clearance and a recorded need to know. Extraction of images, transcript segments or metadata creates a new controlled copy.
Identity and visual evidence control
VISUAL ASSET STATUS: Passport image: attached; dossier image frames available: 2; surveillance frames available: 0; identity match: matched by subject/asset map.
Reason for interview or reconstruction
This record concerns the subject's knowledge of MV Argus, Argus, black box, Southampton; and associated decisions, communications and evidence handling. The scope of this record is confined to the matters set out above and to evidence formally introduced during the session.
Preliminary investigator note
The subject asked that every pause, qualification and refusal be retained in the written transcript. No request was made to remove material already placed on the record.
Recorded interview transcript
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: State your full name for the record.
DEREK HASTINGS: Derek Hastings
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you understand the status of this interview and the limits placed on distribution?
DEREK HASTINGS: I understand the status. I do not accept that the distribution is as limited as the header suggests.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Have you been offered the representation, legal advice or staff support applicable to this procedure?
DEREK HASTINGS: Yes.
DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-01 Retained extract: Forensic Technician Derek Hastings swallowed hard, his usually cocky demeanour replaced by visible anxiety. “I—I don’t know what to tell you, Brooks. Associated persons: Natalie Brooks Relevant systems or locations: MV Argus, Argus, black box, Southampton, evidence
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?
DEREK HASTINGS: The timing is supportable. Attribution is not. I will not improve my memory to make the chronology easier.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: What did you understand at that moment, before later analysis supplied a larger explanation?
DEREK HASTINGS: The timing is supportable. Attribution is not. My answer is limited to what I personally saw, heard or ordered.
DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-02 Retained extract: at six, I went to transfer it for deep analysis, and…” He gestured helplessly at the empty locker. “Any sign of forced entry?” Hastings shook his head. “None. Associated persons: Natalie Brooks, Lewis Marsh Relevant systems or locations: black box, evidence
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?
DEREK HASTINGS: The values agree with one another. Agreement is not proof that they describe the real world. My answer is limited to what I personally saw, heard or ordered.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Who else was physically present and capable of confirming your account without relying on the same electronic record?
DEREK HASTINGS: The timing is supportable. Attribution is not. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Are you saying the official record is wrong?
DEREK HASTINGS: I am saying you should preserve the contradiction instead of choosing the tidier version.
DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-03 Retained extract: Investigators retained a record concerning the retained record concerning Derek Hastings.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?
DEREK HASTINGS: The timing is supportable. Attribution is not. the person who held the contemporaneous log can confirm the sequence, but not necessarily the interpretation.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Why was the matter not escalated through the ordinary reporting route?
DEREK HASTINGS: The timing is supportable. Attribution is not. My answer is limited to what I personally saw, heard or ordered.
[Exhibit S-01 introduced. Subject permitted to inspect the displayed copy without handling the source medium.]
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you identify the person shown as yourself?
DEREK HASTINGS: I identify myself in the frame. I cannot authenticate the date from the crop alone.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Can you establish the location or date from anything visible in the frame?
DEREK HASTINGS: The location is supportable from the surroundings. The purpose you are implying is not.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Were you aware that the image was being made?
DEREK HASTINGS: I was not aware of the camera at the time shown.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Who had advance knowledge of your presence at that location?
DEREK HASTINGS: That depends on whether the source is an official system, a copied feed or a separate observer.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: What does this image prove, and what does it not prove?
DEREK HASTINGS: Preserve the frames before and after it. A single image is a fact about light, not a complete account of conduct.
[Exhibit S-02 introduced. Subject permitted to inspect the displayed copy without handling the source medium.]
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you identify the person shown as yourself?
DEREK HASTINGS: I identify myself in the frame. I cannot authenticate the date from the crop alone.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Can you establish the location or date from anything visible in the frame?
DEREK HASTINGS: The location is supportable from the surroundings. The purpose you are implying is not.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Were you aware that the image was being made?
DEREK HASTINGS: I was not aware of the camera at the time shown.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Who had advance knowledge of your presence at that location?
DEREK HASTINGS: That depends on whether the source is an official system, a copied feed or a separate observer.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: What does this image prove, and what does it not prove?
DEREK HASTINGS: Preserve the frames before and after it. A single image is a fact about light, not a complete account of conduct.
SURVEILLANCE EXHIBIT S-03 // NOT ATTACHED. The corrected WebP asset bundle does not contain a matching image for this original exhibit slot.
[Exhibit S-03 introduced. Subject permitted to inspect the displayed copy without handling the source medium.]
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you identify the person shown as yourself?
DEREK HASTINGS: I identify myself in the frame. I cannot authenticate the date from the crop alone.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Can you establish the location or date from anything visible in the frame?
DEREK HASTINGS: The location is supportable from the surroundings. The purpose you are implying is not.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Were you aware that the image was being made?
DEREK HASTINGS: I was not aware of the camera at the time shown.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Who had advance knowledge of your presence at that location?
DEREK HASTINGS: That depends on whether the source is an official system, a copied feed or a separate observer.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: What does this image prove, and what does it not prove?
DEREK HASTINGS: Preserve the frames before and after it. A single image is a fact about light, not a complete account of conduct.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Is there any material fact you have withheld because you consider this recording or its distribution unsafe?
DEREK HASTINGS: I have limited answers where disclosure would identify a living source or an untested route.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: What is the single next action this investigation should take?
DEREK HASTINGS: Speak to the people who were physically present before asking another database to explain them.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Do you wish to add or correct anything before the recording is suspended?
DEREK HASTINGS: No correction. Only this: an accepted record is not necessarily a true one.
[Recording suspended. Source media sealed. Any resumed session requires a new opening declaration and exhibit schedule.]
Confidential investigator assessment
The interview produced useful corroboration points and several testable contradictions. It did not establish final responsibility for the events examined.
Actions and inconsistencies outstanding
- Obtain or compare the independent account of Natalie Brooks; do not disclose this transcript before their unaided account is fixed.
- Obtain or compare the independent account of Lewis Marsh; do not disclose this transcript before their unaided account is fixed.
- Preserve and independently verify the original record associated with black box, including audit history and physical custody.
- Preserve and independently verify the original record associated with evidence, including audit history and physical custody.
- Preserve and independently verify the original record associated with MV Argus, including audit history and physical custody.
- Recover acquisition authority, original-resolution files and adjacent frames for every surveillance exhibit.
NOTE: Finding limit. Nothing in this record establishes guilt, operational direction or final causation unless expressly stated as a supported finding. A valid credential, image or system entry proves only what that item can independently support.
LEAD INVESTIGATOR — sealed electronic signature held separately
Evidence custodian — receipt and hash recorded
END OF CONTROLLED RECORD — CTC-059