Once again, reality overtakes the legal process. Even after the trial began against Restaurateur Christina Blockher partner Gerhard Delling and other co-defendants, the public prosecutor’s office is looking for ways to prove that the accused were involved in the kidnapping of the two children. Except for that confessed Israelis The defendants deny any role in the case.

As has now become known, the public prosecutor’s office infiltrated an undercover investigator into a security company for six months last year. The goal: obtain internal information about the case. It was affected “System 360“ about the former LKA man Thorsten Mehles and ex-BND boss August Hanning. Both are horrified by the process. Even for the long-term Sports presenter Delling the notes contain unpleasant passages. A dispute has now broken out over the legality of the operation.

Block case: Four crimes are pending

First the basics: The Hamburg security company is the focus of the investigation for several reasons. The public prosecutor’s office suspects Hanning and Mehles of four crimes between 2022 and 2024:

1. Arrangement to kidnap a child for payment
2. False suspicion
3. Possession of child pornography
4. Community violent abduction of children, abuse, deprivation of liberty and abuse of those under protection

The background is a possible involvement of “System 360” in a suspected failed attempt to kidnap the Block children in November 2022 and in the kidnapping on New Year’s Eve 2023/24. In addition there are the false allegations of child pornography and pedophilia against Block’s ex-husband Stephan Hensel and his family lawyer Gerd Uecker.

Hensel initially illegally kept their two youngest children with him after a weekend visit in August 2021. On behalf of the children, he accused the mother of domestic violence. Only the 2023/24 kidnapping is currently being heard at the Hamburg district court.

The allegations against “System 360” were enough for the Hamburg district court to approve the deployment of an undercover investigator from May to November 2025. The documents available to FOCUS online show that the investigator knows Mehles and other employees from their time together at the LKA. That’s why the suspects trusted him and immediately put him in a higher position. This enabled him to quickly gain insight into the inner workings of the company.

Nervous security guard

The Block case and the court proceedings were of particular concern to Mehles. The undercover investigator repeatedly documents the suspects’ great interest in the block process, which began in July 2025 parallel to the investigation. They always make a nervous impression on the investigator. Mehles is said to have even sent employees to the visitors’ bench to observe the process.

Even though the public prosecutor’s office received new information, the operation apparently did not provide any solid evidence. According to the files, the accused spoke relatively freely about their concerns about the case. According to the Mehles company, between October 2022 and February 2023 the Block family was given advice on ways to get in touch with the children in Denmark. According to the investigators’ findings, almost 160,000 euros were paid for this.

According to the file, Mehles also confirmed to the undercover investigator that he had commissioned the Danish company “Eagle Shark” to observe Hensel. However, he emphasized to employees that he was not involved in the kidnapping of the Block children. The allegations are not true, it says elsewhere in the LKA man’s notes. Rather, Hanning and Mehles sensed a defamation campaign against them. When asked by FOCUS online, lawyer Sven Krüger said about the order for his client: “The youth welfare office came to the assessment of an acute threat to the child’s well-being. This assessment should be checked.” He pointed out false allegations and “company-related reputational damage” to employees.

Insights into the network

The investigator also documented that Mehles and Hanning denied involvement in the false child pornography allegations against Hensel. However, he mentions company employees who themselves suspect that only Hanning, through his Mossad contacts as a former BND boss, would be able to do something like this. In a phone call with Mehles, Hanning complained about the allegations that he had received the material from Israelis and only passed it on, the investigator said. Hanning’s lawyer leaves questions about the phone call unanswered. By the Israelis, the former BND head is probably referring to key witness David Barkay. He has already stated that he received the material from a third person through research on the Darknet. That’s why he sent it to his business partner Hanning.

Through the undercover investigator, the prosecutors also gained insight into the “System 360” network. For example, a former constitutional judge was supposed to write a report on criminally relevant parts of the alleged kidnapping attempt in 2022. Contacts with the Hamburg public prosecutor’s office are also documented. Hanning is also said to have planned a tour of the BND, which for the investigators indicates that he still has good contacts with the secret service.

In addition, the undercover police officer received the names of other actors who were involved in the Block case for “System 360” and who are now possible witnesses. According to the note, they wanted to tell the truth when making a statement and not make excuses. One said about his task that he was supposed to gather information against Hensel. Another employee is said to have reported to the then managing director, Marcus R., about Mehles’ exact specifications for the Denmark campaign. The undercover investigator notes that these descriptions could make the incident appear in a different light. However, this is not specified in more detail.

R. left “System 360” in November 2025, apparently in a dispute with Mehles. According to a note from the LKA man, R gave Mehles’ alleged lies as one reason; you can’t rely on him. That’s why another employee is said to have gone back to the police. In addition, given the extensive police measures, R. assumes that there is something to the allegations.

Lawyers dispute representations

When asked by FOCUS online, Hannings and Mehles’ lawyers described the accusation of involvement in the crime as “absurd”. That’s why the investigator didn’t find anything incriminating. Hanning’s lawyer Leon Kruse goes on the offensive himself: “The use of the undercover investigator is just as illegal as that Telephone surveillance of journalists. However, as the block proceedings take longer, one gets the impression that the Code of Criminal Procedure no longer plays a role for the Hamburg judiciary. The whole thing is grotesque.” They want to take legal action against the use of the undercover investigator.
The investigator himself also offers a target.

According to information from FOCUS online, the undercover investigator is privately closely connected to the environment of Hamburg’s Interior Senator Andy Grote. The journalist Lars Winkelsdorf first reported on this constellation. The public prosecutor’s office does not comment on this. This connection can at least give the impression that the investigations could be influenced politically. When asked, a spokesman said that Grote had no knowledge of the investigation.

It is not the first time that Grote’s name has been mentioned in the Block case. Most recently, a witness testified that, according to the defendant Andreas P., the Senator for the Interior was aware of the repatriation of the children and considered it legal. Grote denies this. According to his spokesman, there was only contact with Block corporate lawyer Andreas Costard in January 2024. The topic: The (false) pedophilia accusations against Hensel. Grote “acknowledged” the descriptions and did not respond to further attempts to contact her.

Delling takes center stage again

The name Gerhard Delling also appears several times in the undercover investigator’s notes. Mehles is quoted as saying that Delling made absurd suggestions to bring the children back to Hamburg. Block’s partner suggested that the children would be kidnapped from Denmark on a speedboat. Because Mehles refused, the Block family ended the attorney-client relationship with “System 360” and their law firm in February 2023.

However, what the investigator has gathered at this point with reference to Mehles’ statements does not match the actual events. According to information from FOCUS online, the law firm was only released from its mandate in May 2023. Investigators also assume that Mehles continued to have contact with Block after February. He himself is said to have only confirmed a conversation with the undercover investigator in October, as can be seen from another file note.

Delling’s lawyer firmly rejects the allegations. The formulations are “apparently largely hearsay claims, and some of them come from people who, even according to their own statements, have never seen my client themselves.” It is not even clear whether the statements were made that way.

Especially since they demonstrably contradict the actual processes. “The only thing that is true is that my client – like many other people – was in favor of Ms. Block and her children, who were illegally taken away from her by their father, being able to come together in accordance with the legal situation. There was never any question for him of doing this through illegal means,” said lawyer Rieks. Nor did Delling demand this from others.
Rieks further complains that file contents are being leaked. “A constitutional procedure is constantly being thwarted in order to promote the procedural interests of individuals,” he says. The court will ultimately have to determine how the undercover investigator’s findings should be evaluated and classified.