Person Relation

Michael McCabe , 42 , worked in the equity trading department of Cantor Fitzgerald, a company he had only recently joined.  A lifelong resident of Rumson, New Jersey, he graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Middletown and Rutgers University.

After 18 years at Prudential Securities, Michael J. McCabe quit in June 2001. He took a trading job at a Cantor Fitzgerald office near his Rumson, N.J., home so he could convert commuter time into family time. He took the summer off so he could spend it with his wife, Lynn, and their three children. There were lazy days at the Jersey Shore, barbecues, swimming. There was a glorious late-summer stay at a rented house in Provence with his best friend of 40 years and their wives.

He started work for Cantor at the World Trade Center exactly one week before the attacks of September 11th, 2001. The stint was supposed to last only a month or so, while the company completed work on its Shrewsbury, N.J., office.

Mr. McCabe, 42, was an unpretentious man with a ready laugh, happy in his own skin, his family and friends said. He was a big guy, strong enough to rescue several people over the years from the surf. "We sort of thought that if anybody could come out of this, Mike could," said his sister Mary Ellen McCabe.

He was predeceased by a daughter, Shannon, and remembered still by his wife , Lynn , two daughters and a son , his parents , two sisters and two brothers. He was honoured by the congregation of the Holy Cross Church of Rumson, and by the The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in the City of New York, of which he was an active member.

Mike McCabe was my uncle and he left behind plenty of people who love and miss him. He had 3 kids who are my cousins and a loving wife lynn. They lived in New Jersey and was really special to me. I remember sitting on his lap looking at his cool braces! haha.My uncle Mike was a really great person and he was described always a kind person. I feel like i should of treasured him more or something. We now have what is called a "Mike" or golf tournament in his honor and also his friend Mikes honor. They died together. I miss him so much and i wish he was still here with us <3 I love you and miss you R.IP MJM

I pray for: Regan McCabe, Lynn McCabe Cassidy McCabe Liam McCabe and the rest of the McCabe/ Hemberger family

*** Posted by Kim on 2005-12-10 ***

Mourn the life lost, but celebrate the life lived, and lived well.

This is a peculiar story. Via the Press Association:

A Chief Constable has threatened to defy a High Court order requiring his police force to hand over a child pornography hoard in the name of "common sense".

Avon and Somerset Police are holding 87 computer hard drives and about 2,500 indecent images of children in a probe into a possible paedophile conspiracy.

The material was taken from the Leicestershire home of a discredited computer expert, who previously gave his opinion in court cases involving child pornography.

The discredited computer expert in question is a chap called Jim Bates, who was until recently one of the major suppliers of computer forensics to UK police forces. He was shown to have been misrepresenting his professional qualifications, and ultimately found guilty of perjury.

Although Mr Bates is no longer able to act as an expert witness, he still does some consulting, and in 2008 provided some forensic services to another forensics expert contracted by Avon & Somerset Constabulary. But then he was arrested along with that colleague. According to trade news site The Register:

[Bates and his colleague, Magee] went [to Bristol’s Hi-Tech Crime Unit] to clone a hard drive which was central to an ongoing case . According to Bates, this was a procedure he had carried out many times before in similar cases, and there was no hint of any difference in this one.

They examined the machine in situ, carried out tests for presence of malware, and took a video of the proceedings. When they left, they took with them a copy of the original hard drive.

Over the following summer, Bates claims he was pressured by the Prosecution Counsel and took legal advice. But there was no hint of the visit to come.

As he observes: "If the Police wanted their hard drive back, they had only to ask."

The logic behind the arrest – which suggests that he and Magee had visited the Police Station for the purposes of obtaining child porn - is therefore bizarrely reminiscent of some 60s crime comedy: 'we’ve run out of porn. Where can we get some? I know: let’s dress up as defence experts and raid the local police station.' Funny, were the subject matter not so darkly serious.

Following his arrest, the Police served a search warrant on the Bates’ family home. Before the police could investigate the items seized, Mr Bates applied successfully for a High Court Order to halt their investigation. And now the search warrant has been quashed. According to the ruling of Lord Justice Richards:

Accordingly in my judgment there was no jurisdiction to issue the warrant in the form in which it was sought and issued. Accordingly I would quash the warrant on this ground, and grant the relief sought, namely a declaration that the entry and search of the premises, and the seizures made in the course of the search, were unlawful.

So now Avon & Somerset Police are required to return the seized equipment to Mr Bates or else Chief Constable Colin Port will be held in contempt and sent to jail.

Bizarre.