Hancock CCTV probe 'should take 10 minutes and be the easiest leak inquiry in history' says expert who believes kiss footage leaker will have left digital trail

An investigation into who released CCTV of Matt Hancock kissing his aide should take 10 minutes and be 'the easiest leak inquiry in history,' according to an expert.

Insiders told the Times that all staff with access to the leaked footage are being interviewed about how the bombshell video left the Department of Health. 

The clip captured Mr Hancock kissing and embracing married mother-of-three Gina Coladangelo on May 6, in breach of his own social distancing rules. 

The former Health Secretary resigned from his role a day later, and left his wife Martha, with reports suggesting his relationship with Ms Coladangelo is 'serious' and 'not just a fling.'

An investigation was later launched by the government to uncover how the damning footage reached the public domain, and was later published by the Sun. 

Insiders told the Times that all staff with access to the leaked footage are being interviewed about how the bombshell video left the Department of Health

The clip captured Mr Hancock kissing and embracing married mother-of-three Gina Coladangelo on May 6, in breach of his own social distancing rules. Pictured: The office

Insiders who contribute to security provision in other government departments yesterday claimed it would be simple to find the source of the leak because all employees leave behind a digital trail. 

They said: 'You can see everyone who has looked at each digital file.  

'It would take about ten minutes to work out who it was... it should be the easiest leak inquiry in history.'    

According to the Times, the company contracted to manage security at the Department of Health is called Emcor UK. 

They secured a £22million contract in 2018 to provide 'total facilities management services' to 39 Victoria Street in Westminster, where Mr Hancock and Ms Coladangelo were filmed.

The latest comes amid claims that the CCTV which led to the former Health Secretary's downfall was moved in an effort to 'stitch him up.' 

A senior Department of Health source believes the camera was deliberately pointed at the office door Mr Hancock was passionately kissing Ms Coladangelo against on May 6.

The former Health Secretary resigned from his role a day later, and left his wife Martha, with reports suggesting his relationship with Ms Coladangelo is 'serious' and 'not just a fling.' Pictured: Mr Hancock inside his Department of Health office 

The Whitehall probe into how the footage was leaked will consider if and why the camera was moved during a refurb or by a whistleblower who wanted to expose the cheating minister and his lover.

But a senior Government source said today they are sure it was part of a plot to sink Mr Hancock, telling the Evening Standard: 'We all think Matt Hancock was really stitched up on this'.   

Security expert David Videcette, a former Scotland Yard detective, says the camera would have been there to watch the former health secretary's 9th floor balcony, which also contained his fire exit.

But Mr Videcette believes 'someone repurposed the camera', raising the prospect that it was either physically or remotely turned 180 degrees towards the door where the colleagues were caught kissing.

He tweeted: 'The CCTV camera that caught Matt Hancock kissing in his office was there to monitor a balcony & should have been pointing in opposite direction.

After allowing a month to elapse, the whistleblower approached lockdown sceptics and asked them to help sell the incendiary footage to the media

Mr Hancock resigned as Health Secretary less than 48 hours after pictures emerged of him in a passionate embrace with Gina Coladangelo, pictured together above 

'The decisions to use this space as his office have been idiotic. But the point here is this - someone repurposed the camera'. 

He added: 'The implications of that from a security point of view is huge.' 

It raises the prospect that someone may have known that the lovers canoodled against the office door and turned the camera to get the evidence that saw  Mr Hancock leave his job and his wife on Saturday. 

A Department of Health and Social Care investigation will now consider if the camera was swivelled around, and if so, who did it.  

Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph say a Scotland Yard security review said that a CCTV camera in his office should have a 'limited field of vision' to 'ensure privacy'. 

It says: 'The building has several balconies and terraces and it is proposed these will also need to be covered by security cameras.' 

And a source told the newspaper that on two occasions Mr Hancock has had work done to extend his office, including expanding into an anteroom at the end of 2020, which will be looked at by the Whitehall probe launched yesterday.  

Sources familiar with the ninth-floor office in Victoria Street in central London say alterations were carried out twice while Mr Hancock was health secretary, once to carve out the ante room from his office and then to extend the anteroom towards the end of last year.

Sajid Javid has taken over the office, and has had the CCTV camera above the meeting table taped up and disabled.