Re: the laptop and cellphone found in a dustbin near Brookes house - now in police possession.
Charlie Brookes, the husband, is claiming that it was his laptop that he'd leant to a friend. Police have refused to hand it back to him and are investigating. Probably nothing to it and it's totally innocent .... but...
Criminals, and those with immediate access to lawyers, know that under Sec 18 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, police have an automatic right to search premises without warrant of suspects under arrest for an Indictable Offence (e.g serious criminal offences).
So, knowing this, criminals frequently make sure that all incriminating evidence is removed from their premises as soon as possible, just in case they're arrested.
One tactic the police adopt to counter this is to invite suspects to the police station for interview as a 'witness', then spring an arrest to gain the Sec 18 search power. The police then leg it around to the home of the suspect and this frequently leads to the recovery of incriminating evidence.
However, this can be frustrated if there's somebody at home to receive a tip off that the police are on the way to search the house. Frequently, this leads to panic, with incriminating evidence being swept up and quickly dumped away from the premises, such as in alley ways, in skips and neighbours garden sheds, to be recovered after the police have left. Evidence has even been found in dustbins in the past....
Brookes was arrested on suspicion of bribery which is an indictable offence. She thought that she was going to be interviewed as a witness.
However, there's probably nothing to this laptop and cellphone being found in the dustbin near to her house....all totally innocent.