Detective adamant he didn't follow Davis

Dunedin private detective Wayne Idour is denying any involvement or link with allegations that Prime Minister Helen Clark and her husband Peter Davis had been followed by someone paid by the Exclusive Brethren.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Idour was adamant he was not the private detective said to have followed Professor Davis.

"They are barking up the wrong tree. I hear things all the time because I travel all the time. I have my views on whether things are truthful or not."

Mr Idour said he was not sure he knew what Professor Davis looked like.

"I am ropable at the moment. I am seething, you might say. I just really resent being dragged into this conspiracy theory."

Asked if he had ever been hired by the Exclusive Brethren, he said: "I haven't, I have not, definitely not."

Helen Clark said in an interview she had been told by two credible sources that people had been approached to follow her husband. One of the people had been so disgusted they felt the information should be passed on to her.

Police told her staff there was nothing she could do to stop it, so she contacted Professor Davis and asked him to keep a diary of his movements.

"We are conscious that people with malice can make an entry into a doorway look a suspicious act. His life is so dull - it involves walking into work in the morning, getting the bus home at night and closing the front door. It would be very frustrating if anyone had done the job."

Asked how it felt when she discovered a private detective could be following Professor Davis, the Prime Minister said it was "creepy" and they felt like prisoners in their own home.

"It put restrictions on the little things you do on your own ... because you don't know when someone will leap out."

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES, NZPA