Hollywood private eye faces life in jail

A self-proclaimed "private eye to the stars", Anthony Pellicano, was found guilty yesterday of 76 counts of illegal activity, including unauthorised wiretapping, intimidation and bribing police in a case that laid bare the seedy side of Hollywood. Pellicano, 64, was found guilty by a jury in a Los Angeles federal court of all but one of the charges brought against him and may spend the rest of his life in prison. Four co-defendants were also found guilty of supporting him in his illegal ventures.

Pellicano acted on behalf of several powerful clients, helping them to avoid criminal prosecutions, deal with messy divorces and secure business deals. In tape recordings played to the court of conversations he had made himself, he told his clients he would make their problems go away for a non-refundable retainer of $25,000 and upwards. All but a few of those clients have never been charged - some received promises of immunity from prosecution in exchange for evidence, others argued that they had no knowledge of his illegal methods.

The case was a culmination of a six-year investigation into Pellicano's practices by the FBI that began in 2002 when a reporter for the Los Angeles Times found a dead fish on the bonnet of her car, the windscreen smashed and a note saying "STOP". The FBI linked the threat to the fact that the reporter, Anita Busch, had been writing unfavourable pieces about Michael Ovitz, a powerful Hollywood agent and former co-president of Walt Disney. Ovitz employed Pellicano to help him deal with two people who were suing his company, as well as with Busch and another reporter.

The FBI investigation unveiled an enormous criminal network deployed by Pellicano on his clients' behalf. He engaged in widespread wiretapping of conversations, including those of Sylvester Stallone. He bribed police and other officials to run illegal database searches of, among others, Gary Shandling of the Larry Sanders Show fame and the Saturday Night Live actor Kevin Nealon.

The prosecution, which relied on witnesses including Farah Fawcett and Steven Segal, presented the jury with evidence of racketeering and death threats. Prosecutor Dan Saunders portrayed it as a case about illegal behaviour, not glamour and glitz. "This case is about corruption, cheating, greed, arrogance and the perversion of the justice system. It just happened to take place in Hollywood," he said.

Seven people pleaded guilty to charges related to the case before Pellicano's trial began. The most prominent was John McTiernan, director of Die Hard and other action movies, who was heard on tape in conversation with Pellicano during which the detective discussed wiretapping a film producer. Another casualty was Sandra Carradine, the former wife of the Oscar-winning actor Keith Carradine.

Several big names employed Pellicano, but have avoided any charges. Apart from Ovitz, they include the celebrated entertainment lawyer Bert Fields and Brad Grey, the head of Paramount studios. Grey used the services of Pellicano to target the comedian Garry Shandling, who was suing him for $100m. Shandling said Pellicano ran a smear campaign against him.

Meanwhile, the husband of an Emmy award-winning make-up artist was arrested last night, hours after human remains were found in woodland. David Chenery-Wickens, 51, is being questioned by detectives investigating the disappearance of 48-year-old Diane Chenery-Wickens in January. He had previously been arrested on suspicion of her murder and his police bail was extended to May 30 pending further inquiries.

A woman walking her dog found the body in woodland near Little Horsted, Uckfield, East Sussex. Mrs Chenery-Wickens' family has been informed of the discovery. Mrs Chenery-Wickens, who worked on such shows as The League of Gentlemen and Casualty, was reported missing by her husband on January 24.