Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking: can these journalists really get a fair trial?

The flaws in the design of the Leveson Inquiry have undermined the judicial process.

By Stephen Parkinson, solicitor for Rebekah Brooks

The Telegraph

6:59PM GMT 08 Mar 2012

No one can accuse David Cameron of rushing too quickly into setting up the Leveson Inquiry. He knew of all the potential problems. He knew that with a major police investigation already under way, there was a danger that a public inquiry would jeopardise its outcome.

So when he faced the House of Commons last July, amid increasingly loud calls for action, Mr Cameron made clear that he intended to take his time, to ensure he got it right. His initial instinct was that something might be possible, but he asked for time to consult and consider, since, as he put it: “All too often these inquiries can be set up too quickly without thinking through what actually needs to be done.”

We can be sure, therefore, that when the Leveson Inquiry was announced a week later, the Prime Minister had received all the advice he needed, from the Attorney General among others. So there is no excuse for the spectacular failure that occurred last week, one that was a direct result of the faulty arrangements put in place for examining the phone-hacking saga.

We have now had, over the past year, two extensive select committee inquiries; Leveson itself; a number of parliamentary debates and statements; and a continuing police investigation, which has produced 30 arrests. Normally, our system protects those who are suspects in criminal investigations reasonably well. It allows them to maintain their silence until there is either a trial, in which all the facts can be put before a jury, or a decision that there is no case to answer. In return, it restricts the circulation of facts, comment and speculation about their guilt or innocence.

Last week, that did not happen – and it has not happened for much of the past nine months. Witnesses have been summoned before both Parliament and the Leveson Inquiry. While those under police investigation have been permitted to maintain their silence on issues central to that process, others have been questioned with few restrictions. As a result, much prejudicial material has come into the public domain.

Last autumn, Paul McMullan was allowed by the Leveson Inquiry to accuse my client, Rebekah Brooks, of being the “criminal-in-chief”. This was received uncritically. Mrs Brooks had been denied permission to be a core participant in the inquiry, so no one was there on her behalf to challenge the evidence. There was no cross-examination of Mr McMullan, his credibility or his motives.

This is just one example of what has become a pattern. Last Monday, Sue Akers, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, responded to an invitation to “provide a statement about the investigation into police corruption providing as much detail as possible, without naming individuals, as is compatible with the ongoing police investigation”.

DAC Akers took full advantage of that opportunity, alleging that there had been a culture at The Sun of illegal payments to a network of public officials. She said that systems had been created to facilitate such payments, which were authorised “at a very senior level”. She might not have mentioned names, but it did not take much to fill in the gaps. Nor was she alone. Brian Paddick and Jacqui Hames, both former police officers, went on to make their own allegations, going further than DAC Akers and naming names. Understandably, the press reported this extensively. Instantly, stories appeared about various individuals who had been arrested as part of the inquiry. The publicity was huge, dramatic and sensational.

The Attorney General is now considering whether this reporting amounts to contempt of court. Quite separately, the judge will be bound to consider – if there is ever a prosecution – whether a fair trial is possible. Those of us representing the current and former journalists, particularly at The Sun, who bore the brunt of the prejudicial comments, will inevitably make the point that publicity of this kind does not fade from the memory.

None of this should be seen as a criticism of the Leveson Inquiry. It has been coping with a structural weakness that goes back to the basis on which it was set up by David Cameron. It was to have two parts: the first would examine the culture, practices and ethics of the press, and make recommendations as to its future regulation and behaviour. The second would look at the specifics of what had gone wrong in the past.

The intention was to leave until Part Two the specific examination of who did what to whom, following the police investigation and any court case. But Lord Justice Leveson found that he could not decide whether the current system had failed without obtaining “a narrative of events”. So the inquiry has heard evidence from victims, journalists, police and regulators, from which that “narrative” will be drawn. There has not been a criminal trial, and so none of the safeguards expected at a trial has been present.

Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry, and the other bodies investigating these events, have each been doing their job, and should not be criticised. But what is left is a deep sense of unease. There are a number of individuals out there whose reputations have been traduced. Few people know the impact of such publicity on their lives, and the depth of stress and worry they have had to bear. But each of us knows enough to question whether the public interest and the legal premise of “innocent until proven guilty” have been served by what we have seen and heard.

Stephen Parkinson is head of criminal litigation at Kingsley Napley and solicitor for Rebekah Brooks

[Douglas Caddy]

Ofcom steps up test of James Murdoch's fitness to keep BSkyB role

Media regulator's Project Apple examines phone-hacking evidence to decide on 39-year-old's stewardship

By Dan Sabbagh and Jason Deans

guardian.co.uk,

Thursday 8 March 2012 18.54 EST

Ofcom has stepped up its investigation into whether James Murdoch is a "fit and proper" person to sit on the board of BSkyB, forming a project team to examine evidence of phone hacking and corrupt payments emerging from the police and the Leveson inquiry.

The media regulator set up a dedicated group of seven or eight staff under the name Project Apple at around the turn of the year as part of an assessment that is also taking in whether News Corporation is a fit and proper controlling investor in the satellite broadcaster.

If Ofcom concluded that either Murdoch or News Corp were not appropriate owners, the regulator could revoke Sky's licence to broadcast in the UK, forcing it to switch off its channels, unless Murdoch stepped down from the board or News Corp sold its 39.1% stake.

The existence of Project Apple emerged following a freedom of information disclosure by Ofcom in response to questions from the Financial Times. Board meeting minutes released by Ofcom show that members discussed the existence of the project on 24 January and that the regulator's general counsel had "compiled files of relevant advice and evidence".

It is understood the Ofcom officials are liaising with the Metropolitan Police's Weeting and Elveden teams investigating hacking and bribery allegations – and studying evidence given to the Leveson inquiry on press standards. Ofcom's work is still at an early, or assessment stage, but guidance issued by the regulator makes it clear that it could make a ruling on the "fit and proper" status of Murdoch or News Corp ahead of the conclusion of any criminal trials.

Although Murdoch last week stepped down as executive chairman of News International, the owner of the Sun and the Times, the 39-year-old is determined to remain as the head of BSkyB. He took over from his father as chairman at the end of 2007, having spent the previous four years as chief executive.

However, Murdoch faces a number of challenges to his continuing chairmanship of Sky. In addition to Ofcom's inquiry, his stewardship of News International will be judged as part of a wider inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World by MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee. Their final report is due later this spring.

Sky declined to comment on the developing Ofcom investigation, but insiders insisted the company was relaxed given that the regulator had an ongoing duty to ensure that any broadcaster passes the fit and proper tests as laid out in law. The company believes that Ofcom's position has not altered since Ed Richards, its chief executive, wrote to three Lib Dem MPs in July of last year to say that it was "continuing to gather and analyse information" from the Met and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the solicitor acting for Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, accused the Leveson inquiry into phone hacking and media ethics of presiding over a "spectacular failure" in allowing a senior Scotland Yard officer to give evidence about the arrest of Sun journalists over alleged illegal payments to public officials.

Stephen Parkinson, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers' comments could threaten the arrested Sun journalists' right to a fair trial. Parkinson, the head of criminal litigation at Kingsley Napley, said: "Those of us representing the current and former journalists, particularly at the Sun, who bore the brunt of the prejudicial comments, will inevitably make the point that publicity of this kind does not fade from the memory."

[Douglas Caddy]

Will Mulcaire confess all? Church's priest says he may be victim of hacking

Lawyers say evidence suggests that News of the World detective accessed voicemail of the confidant of singer's Catholic family

The Independent

James Cusick

Saturday, 10 March 2012

The priest of singer Charlotte Church is taking legal action against the News of the World, claiming his phone was hacked by the jailed private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

The deliberate invasion of the "uniquely trusting" relationship between Ms Church's Catholic family and Father Richard Reardon threatens to derail News Corp's recent attempts to limit the public fallout from the scandal by settling every outstanding phone hacking claim.

Evidence that Father Reardon's voicemails had been illegally intercepted by Mulcaire was expected to be one of the most explosive and controversial revelations heard in the High Court if Ms Church's damages claim against Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers had gone to trial.

Lawyers representing the Roman Catholic priest say they have now gathered evidence that points to Mulcaire listening to his private messages. Father Reardon, from the Archdiocese of Cardiff, has been told by the Metropolitan Police that his details are listed in Mulcaire's notebooks. They are gathered in a "family and friends" phone numbers section connected to Ms Church's stepfather James.

The priest was a trusted confidant of the Church family throughout the period 2002 to 2006, when phone hacking at the NOTW was at its peak. After accepting damages of £600,000 from NI last month, the Welsh singer said: "Nothing was deemed off-limits by those who pursued me and my family."

Tom Watson, the Labour MP at the centre of parliamentary investigations into NOTW's illegal practices, told The Independent: "People of faith will be horrified at this news. How did they [the NOTW] think that targeting a priest was in any way justifiable? It's a disgusting new low for Rupert Murdoch."

Austen Ivereigh, a leading Roman Catholic commentator , said: "Catholics are used to opening their hearts and minds to their priests. The idea that a private investigator could hack a priest's phone in order to get a glimpse into the private life of one of his flock is genuinely shocking. Its takes the invasion of privacy exposed by this scandal to a whole new level."

NI's leading counsel, Michael Silverleaf QC, told a pre-trial review held early last month that the company would dispute in court the claim that information contained in articles in the now-defunct tabloid could only have been obtained through hacking the priest's voicemails.

Yesterday it was confirmed that Mark Thompson, the lawyer who represented Sienna Miller and Jude Law in their successful claims against News International, has been hired by Father Reardon. At his home in Usk, Father Reardon refused to comment.

Ms Church was brought up a Catholic, and during the "lowest moments" of NOTW's years of hounding, the advice and guidance offered by the parish priest is said to have been invaluable.

In court last month the family's lawyer, Mike Brookes, described how the Church family were effectively under constant surveillance for years and that the tabloid gained access to the medical records of Charlotte Church's mother, Maria.

Father Reardon is understood to have been a key factor in helping the family cope with Maria Church's attempted suicide and the trauma that followed.

Ms Chuch's legal action against NI and her settlement was confined to the News of the World, but following consultations with her legal advisers after the settlement with NI, she has decided to seek damages from The Sun. Her advisers believe articles in the paper contained information which could only have come from phone hacking.

A spokeswoman from News International said last night they were not in a position to comment. Mulcaire's lawyer, Sarah Webb, said it would not be appropriate for her client to make any comment "pending the final resolution of all criminal proceedings against him".

[Douglas Caddy]

There was 'no appetite' for hacking review, says Sir Denis O'Connor

The Independent

By Sam Marsden, Thomas Pascoe

Monday, 12 March 2012

Former home secretary Alan Johnson had "no appetite" for inspectors to review Scotland Yard's original police phone-hacking investigation, the Leveson Inquiry heard today.

Sir Denis O'Connor, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said he advised Home Office officials there should be an independent review after a July 2009 Guardian story alleged the illegal interception of voicemails was far more widespread than previously believed.

He told the press standards inquiry that the idea of getting Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) involved was discussed with ministers and the then-home secretary, but it "never really got off the ground".

Scotland Yard's original phone-hacking investigation resulted in the jailing of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in January 2007 after they admitted intercepting voicemail messages left on royal aides' phones.

But the Met was widely criticised for failing to reopen the probe after the Guardian published an article on July 9 2009 alleging there were more journalists and many more victims involved in the case.

Sir Denis said he had a discussion about the report with a Home Office civil servant on the day it appeared in print.

He told the inquiry: "I said, looking at this, that I thought the revelations merited some form of independent review.

"I thought that the allegations that were there, if true in any degree, would raise substantial public confidence issues, and I would not be surprised if the HMIC were asked to assist in some way to facilitate such an approach...

"I think there was a second - again in the margins of other business - conversation with another, more senior official.

"But my understanding was that, as with a number of other options, discussions ensued with ministers and the home secretary at the time, and there was no appetite for the HMIC being involved.

"So it never really got off the ground, sadly."

Former Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner John Yates faced criticism over his decision not to reopen the hacking investigation in the light of the Guardian article.

Mr Yates earlier told the inquiry that he was "good friends" with former News of the World executive editor Neil Wallis.

Met Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick today said the Guardian report "certainly wasn't a trivial matter" and suggested that Mr Yates should have alerted then-commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson to his close relationship with Mr Wallis before he examined the paper's allegations.

She told the inquiry: "If you do think you have any conflict, then you have to discuss it with the boss, and so that's what I think I would have done...

"I don't know how much Sir Paul knew about the relationship, but I think at a minimum a conflict like that should be discussed."

The senior policewoman added: "I was completely and totally unaware of that relationship at that time.

"It was not discussed with me at the time. Indeed I had actually never heard of Mr Wallis until early 2011."

Ms Dick also told the inquiry that Boris Johnson's deputy Kit Malthouse three times questioned the resources devoted to Scotland Yard's new phone-hacking investigation.

She reminded Mr Malthouse that it was for her to make the decision, not him, because British police are operationally independent.

Sir Paul told the inquiry last week that the deputy London Mayor complained about the level of resources allocated to the investigation because of a "political and media-driven 'level of hysteria"'.

Ms Dick said Mr Malthouse, chairman of Scotland Yard's former governing body the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), voiced his concerns after police launched a new phone-hacking probe in January 2011.

She told the inquiry: "On a couple of occasions Mr Malthouse, I thought jokingly, said to me, 'I hope you're not putting too much resources into this, Cressida'.

"On the third occasion when he said it again, I said, 'well, that's my decision and not yours, and that's why I'm operationally independent'.

"We then went on to have a perfectly reasonable sort of conversation about where the public interest lay."

Ms Dick said she wanted to "put down a marker" for Mr Malthouse so that he and the police investigation were not compromised if it was ever suggested that officers had bowed to political pressure.

A spokeswoman for Mr Malthouse said: "The job of the chair of the MPA and now, the deputy mayor for policing, is to question and probe the resource allocation decisions of senior police officials in order to secure an efficient and effective police force for London.

"It was entirely proper, as Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick noted, for Kit Malthouse to probe the reasoning behind the allocation of resources into the phone hacking inquiry.

"Mr Malthouse has questioned the allocation of resources by the Metropolitan Police Service in any number of areas, including knife crime, rape, murder and gangs. His job is to hold the Met Police to account.

"The Mayor has made it clear that the phone hacking investigation has to be pursued relentlessly and thoroughly."

[Steve Knight]

Six arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by phone hacking police

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by police officers from Operation Weeting investigating allegations of phone hacking.

By Matthew Holehouse

8:54AM GMT 13 Mar 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9140031/Six-arrested-on-suspicion-of-conspiracy-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice-by-phone-hacking-police.html

Police arrested six people at addresses in London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Hertfordshire.

The five men, aged between 38 and 49, and one woman, aged 43, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The co-ordinated arrests were made between 5am and 7am by officers from Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police's investigation into the illegal interception of voicemails.

They are being interviewed at police stations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and central, east and south west London.

Officers are searching the properties where the arrests were made.

One man, 48, was arrested at a business address in east London.

The 43-year old woman and the 49-year old man were arrested at their home addresses in Oxfordshire and are being interviewed at separate police stations.

It takes the total number of arrests under Operation Weeting to 23.

The investigation was launched in January 2011 after the Metropolitan Police received new information from News International, the publishers of the News of the World, the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.

It is being led by deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers and has 91 officers working on it.

Previous arrests under Operation Weeting include Ian Edmondson, the former News of the World assistant editor; Neville Thurlbeck, the former chief reporter; Neil Wallis, the former executive editor; Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive; and Stuart Kuttner, the former managing editor.

Previous Operation Weeting arrests for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice include Cheryl Carter, the long-standing PA to Rebekah Brooks; Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator; and Ross Hall, the former NOTW reporter.

[John Simkin]

Six arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by phone hacking police

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by police officers from Operation Weeting investigating allegations of phone hacking.

By Matthew Holehouse

8:54AM GMT 13 Mar 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9140031/Six-arrested-on-suspicion-of-conspiracy-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice-by-phone-hacking-police.html

Police arrested six people at addresses in London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Hertfordshire.

The five men, aged between 38 and 49, and one woman, aged 43, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The co-ordinated arrests were made between 5am and 7am by officers from Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police's investigation into the illegal interception of voicemails.

They are being interviewed at police stations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and central, east and south west London.

Officers are searching the properties where the arrests were made.

One man, 48, was arrested at a business address in east London.

The 43-year old woman and the 49-year old man were arrested at their home addresses in Oxfordshire and are being interviewed at separate police stations.

It takes the total number of arrests under Operation Weeting to 23.

The investigation was launched in January 2011 after the Metropolitan Police received new information from News International, the publishers of the News of the World, the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.

It is being led by deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers and has 91 officers working on it.

Previous arrests under Operation Weeting include Ian Edmondson, the former News of the World assistant editor; Neville Thurlbeck, the former chief reporter; Neil Wallis, the former executive editor; Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive; and Stuart Kuttner, the former managing editor.

Previous Operation Weeting arrests for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice include Cheryl Carter, the long-standing PA to Rebekah Brooks; Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator; and Ross Hall, the former NOTW reporter.

This is significant because they will find it easier to charge Rebekah Brooks with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice than ordering the hacking. It is possible that they will also get James Murdoch and even Rupert Murdoch on the same charge.

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch says Sun investigation is almost over

Sun journalists sent email claiming management and standards committee's investigation is 'substantially complete'

By Dan Sabbagh

guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday 13 March 2012 14.37 EDT

Rupert Murdoch told Sun journalists that the investigation by News Corporation's management and standards committee into alleged corrupt payments and other acts of illegality at the tabloid has almost concluded, in an email sent to reporters and seen by the Guardian.

Writing to the newsroom, the media tycoon said he had been told "by the MSC that its work on the Sun is substantially complete" – and, reinforcing repeated claims made by the MSC, added that any company emails handed over to the police "has at all times been strictly confined to evidence of possible illegal acts".

Murdoch's note was aimed at shoring up a demoralised newsroom, which has endured the arrest of 11 journalists on suspicion of making corrupt payments to public officials, including police, prison officers and military personnel. He also responded to press reports last week that two Sun reporters who had been arrested may have contemplated suicide.

"We have all been shocked and saddened by recent reports concerning the health and welfare of a number of our colleagues," Murdoch wrote, noting as the newspaper was enduring "difficult and stressful times" that nobody could "simply wish it all away".

Indicating that he was personally involved in the welfare of the two staff, which has divided the company between the Sun newsroom and company's MSC, Murdoch wrote that he was "doing everything I can to see that our colleagues are looked after and that they get the very best care and help".

Rupert Murdoch returned to New York to attend the funeral in Long Island of Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times war reporter killed last month on assignment in Syria on Monday. But he promised to return London at the end of this week, as News International faces continuing pressure over phone hacking and corrupt payments allegations, as exemplified by the arrest of former chief executive Rebekah Brooks this morning.

The MSC investigation into past wrongdoing has been going over some 300m emails, trawling through them to find evidence of any likely corrupt payments and sharing any such information with a police team based in a different room on site. The probe is also covering the Times and the Sunday Times as well as the Sun.

[Douglas Caddy]

David Cameron could be questioned on oath over links to Rebekah and Charlie Brooks, Downing St admits

David Cameron could be questioned on oath at the Leveson judicial inquiry about this friendship with Rebekah and Charlie Brooks, Downing Street has admitted.

The Telegraph

By Christopher Hope and Matthew Holehouse

5:35PM GMT 13 Mar 2012

Mrs Brooks and her husband were among six people who were arrested this morning on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by police officers investigating allegations of phone hacking.

The former editor of the News of the World and her husband Charlie, the racehorse trainer and Telegraph columnist, were arrested at their home in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, sources said.

Mrs Brooks, a former editor of The Sun, had been on bail after being questioned by detectives last summer on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption.

News of the arrests broke after Mr Cameron had left the UK for an official visit to America. It could prove to be politically embarrassing for the Prime Minister who 10 days told a press conference that Mr Brooks had been a “good” friend “for over 30 years”.

Labour called for the Leveson inquiry to include Mr Cameron’s links with close friends with the Brookses.

Asked today at the afternoon press briefing about whether he would co-operate with the inquiry the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have been very clear about what the remit of the Leveson inquiry is, it is doing a thorough job and the Prime Minister has long said that if politicians including himself are required to come forward as witnesses, then of course we will coop with that inquiry.”

If Mr Cameron gave evidence, he would be asked to swear he was telling the truth. Asked if he would he happy to answer questions about his friendship with the Brookses, the spokesman added: “I am not going to try to predict what the questions might be. He said he would cooperate with the inquiry.”

Harriet Harman MP, Labour’s Deputy Leader who faces Mr Cameron’s stand-in Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg at Prime Minister’s Question on Wednesday, tonight wrote to Lord Leveson urging him to ensure Mr Cameron's links to the Brookses were investigated.

She said: “It is important that the police are continuing to pursue the investigation into phone hacking. Rebekah and Charlie Brooks are, on the Prime Minister’s own account, close friends of his.

“The Leveson Inquiry – when looking into the relations between the press and politicians – will need to investigate the full extent of the relations between the Prime Minister and senior News International executives at the time when hacking was rife and at the time his Government was considering News Corp’s bid for BSkyB.”

Mr Cameron’s friendship with the Brookses has been scrutinised since he was forced to admit he had ridden a horse loaned to Mr Brooks’ wife, the ex-tabloid editor Rebekah Brooks, by the Metropolitan police.

He told at a press conference on March 2: “Let me shed some light on it. I have known Charlie Brooks, the husband of Rebekah Brooks for over 30 years, and he is a good friend. Before the election I did go riding with him.

“He has a number of different horses and yes one of them was this former police horse Raisa, which I did ride.”

Crucially, Mr Cameron did not admit riding with Mrs Brooks, as had been alleged by former News of the World features editor Paul McMullan.

Mark Hanna, head of security at News International, was named by Sky News as one of those held. Police from Operation Weeting arrested six people at addresses in London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Hertfordshire.

The five men, aged between 38 and 49, and one woman, aged 43, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The co-ordinated arrests were made between 5am and 7am by officers from Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police's investigation into the illegal interception of voicemails.

They were being interviewed at police stations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and central, east and south west London. Officers are searching the properties where the arrests were made.

One man, 48, was arrested at a business address in east London. The 43-year old woman and the 49-year old man were arrested at their home addresses in Oxfordshire and are being interviewed at separate police stations.

It takes the total number of arrests under Operation Weeting to 23.

The investigation was launched in January 2011 after the Metropolitan Police received new information from News International, the publishers of the News of the World, the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.

It is being led by deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers and has 91 officers working on it. She has told the inquiry into press standards that there was a "culture of illegal payments" at the Sun newspaper.

Ms Akers, who is in charge of three linked inquiries into phone hacking, illicit payments and computer hacking, told Lord Justice Leveson the payments appeared to have been authorised at a "senior level".

Attorney General Dominic Grieve is looking into concerns the policewoman could have prejudiced any potential trials.

Mrs Brooks, who resigned last year as News International chief executive amid the furore over phone-hacking allegations, "fostered" Raisa the horse after it retired from active service in 2008.

She paid food and vet bills until Raisa was rehoused with a police officer in 2010, months before fresh investigations began into illegal activities at the News of the World.

Mrs Brooks is the only suspect being questioned who had already been arrested under Weeting, a source said.

[Douglas Caddy]

Leveson Inquiry: Dick Fedorcio let NOTW reporter write story on Met computer

Dick Fedorcio, the most senior press officer at the Metropolitan Police Service, let Lucy Panton, the crime editor at the News of the World, use a police computer to write a news story.

By Matthew Holehouse

2:10PM GMT 13 Mar 2012

The Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9140926/Leveson-Inquiry-Dick-Fedorcio-let-NOTW-reporter-write-story-on-Met-computer.html

Mr Fedorcio, the Director of Public Affairs at the force, told the Leveson Inquiry he let Ms Panton use a stand-alone terminal in his office to write up a story about Ali Dizaei, the disgraced Met Commander, because she was under pressure from her editors.

Ms Panton has since been arrested by detectives from Operation Elveden on suspicion of offences involving making payments to police officers for information.

Mr Fedorcio is on extended leave from the force while the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigates the awarding of a contract to Neil Wallis, the former executive editor of the News of the World.

Mr Fedorcio said he would meet with News of the World journalists every Friday evening under Colin Myler's editorship to learn what stories they were planning and get ready to make arrests if they had exposed criminality through a "sting" operation.

In written evidence to the inquiry, he said: "At one of these end of the week meetings with Lucy Panton, in my office, at which I was seeking to gain an understanding of whether there were any issues or stories of which the MPS should be aware, I recall that she had arrived with a story about the reception into prison of ex-Commander Ali Dizaei (in particular concerning his alleged refusal to hand over his suit to the prison staff).

"She was being chased by telephone and/or text by her office to file this story, which they were expecting from her. To help her, and as she was under pressure, I offered to let her type the story, which she did from notes that she arrived with, in an e-mail on the standalone computer in my office. She accepted and wrote the story and sent it. I was present in the office throughout this time, and therefore got advance sight of a story about an MPS officer."

He added the computer was not connected to the MPS computer systemm, and was used for personal emails and access to social media sites that are blocked by the force's firewall.

Mr Fedorcio revealed he negotiated the loan of a retired police horse to Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of the News of the World and chief executive of News International.

She telephoned him in September 2007 to say she would like to give one a home. Fedorcio arranged for Inspector Hiscock of the Mounted Branch to show Mrs Brooks - then Rebekah Wade - around the police stables at Imber Court.

The arrangement was discussed by Mrs Brooks, Mr Fedorcio and the then Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, when they met for lunch the following day.

"I felt this could possibly lead to some positive coverage about the care of retired police horses," Mr Fedorcio said.

"I had no more dealings with this until I received a call from Inspector Hiscock somertime later to say that he had identified a suitable horse, had visited and checked the facilities being offered by Rebekah Wade and the arrangement was going ahead. I had no further dealings in relation to this issue."

Mr Fedorcio also revealed in 2003 he received a hamper from Andy Coulson, then the editor of the News of the World, as "a thank you for the DPA’s efforts in dealing with the paper’s demands, often at short notice on Saturday afternoons." Its contents were shared amongst staff.

[Steve Knight]

This is significant because they will find it easier to charge Rebekah Brooks with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice than ordering the hacking. It is possible that they will also get James Murdoch and even Rupert Murdoch on the same charge.

Oh go on, I'll say it :

The question is "Will they, though?"

Or does Murdoch (either/or) still have "influence" over our government, (police? CPS?) enough to limit the charges, or get them trivialised to the point of a slap on the wrist?

Would they "sacrifice" Ms Brooks, or try to help her out?

Will they ever investigate their ties to the previous government, and even though they've tried distancing themselves, this one, too?

It's going to be an interesting few months, to say the least....

I just won't be holding my breath.

[Douglas Caddy]

Leveson Inquiry: 'very serious allegations' about former Scotland Yard commissioners due to be heard

Serious allegations about the former Metropolitan Police commissioners Lord Blair and Sir Paul Stephenson have been made in a witness statement to the Leveson Inquiry, it emerged today.

The Telegraph

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

2:26PM GMT 14 Mar 2012

Peter Tickner, Scotland Yard’s former director of internal audit, had been due to air the claims when he is called to give evidence tomorrow, but his appearance may now be postponed following objections from the Met’s legal team.

Today he was accused of trying to use the Inquiry to “settle old scores”.

Neil Garnham QC, representing the Metropolitan Police, who has seen Mr Tickner’s as yet unpublished statement, said: “The allegations being made against people like Lord Blair, Sir Paul Stephenson and others are very serious.

"They come, to use the popular expression, from leftfield. They have not been prefaced or anticipated before."

He added: "Given the nature of these allegations, they are certain to receive significant publicity... The allegations being made are unproven and unsupported by independent evidence.

"They have, we would say, the flavour of attempts to use the inquiry as a vehicle to settle old scores, and those criticised have had no chance to deal with the issues when they gave evidence.

"These previous witnesses face being traduced in the press without any possibility of effective redress or rebuttal."

In 2009 Mr Tickner compiled a report on the use of corporate American Express cards by 3,500 Met officers, which referred 300 officers to the force’s Directorate of Professional Standards.

It emerged that one officer had spent £40,000 on his Amex card in one year, without authorisation, while other officers bought suits, women’s clothing and fishing rods.

Mr Tickner later alleged that Andy Hayman, the former assistant commissioner who quit his job after an investigation was launched into his expenses, had bought a £50 bottle of champagne which he drank with a News of the World reporter.

Mr Garnham also raised concerns about allegations against senior officers made in a statement to the inquiry by Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll, who led the Met's investigation into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Lord Justice Leveson said he would consider postponing Mr Tickner's evidence and suggested that the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC) - Scotland Yard's new governing body - could investigate his claims further.

He said: "It may be that the authority or its successor body ought to be considering that which its former employee (Mr Tickner) has said, to find out whether there is material which I ought to know about that would either utterly undermine that which he's said, in which case I may take a view about whether it should be called, or alternatively a different line is taken, in which case I have to make all sorts of arrangements to make sure that I have been fair to everybody concerned."

[Douglas Caddy]

Neville Thurlbeck, former News of the World chief reporter, arrested

Operation Weeting officers re-arrest former NoW chief reporter, this time on suspicion of intimidation of a witness

B y Lisa O'Carroll

guardian.co.uk,

Wednesday 14 March 2012 13.32 EDT

Neville Thurlbeck, the former chief reporter of the News of the World, has been arrested on suspicion of intimidation of a witness.

He was arrested by appointment at a central London police station at 4pm on Wednesday by officers working on the Operation Weeting investigation into phone hacking.

"A 51-year-old man was arrested by appointment at a central London police station at approximately 16:00 hrs today by officers from Operation Weeting, the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] inquiry into the phone-hacking of voicemails," said Scotland Yard in a statement.

"He was arrested on suspicion of intimidation of a witness (contrary to Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994) and encouraging or assisting an offence (contrary to Section 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007)."

Last week, Thurlbeck posted the home address of an executive on Rupert Murdoch's management standards committee lived on in a blog post.

The address in his post included the street name but not the house number, it is understood, and was later removed. Thurlbeck said in a later blog that he "accepted … that printing the name of his street was distressing to his family and took this down immediately as I have absolutely no wish to do this".

It is the second time Thurlbeck has been arrested as part of Operation Weeting.

In a statement the Metropolitan police said: "This is Operation Weeting arrest 'A'. He was previously arrested on 5 April 2011 (then aged 50) on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications (contrary to Section 1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977) and unlawful interception of voicemail messages (contrary to Section 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000)".

The arrest comes a day after Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, and her husband Charlie Brooks were arrested and bailed on "suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" in relation to the same police investigation.

Four others were arrested including the director of security at News International and two other non-editorial staff believed to have worked on contract for the Murdoch publishing group.

[Douglas Caddy]

deleted.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Douglas Caddy

[Steve Knight]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/14/uk-britain-murdoch-idUKBRE82D11B20120314?feedType=RSS&feedName=GCA-GoogleNewsUK&google_editors_picks=true

James Murdoch pleads innocence ahead of committee report

LONDON | Wed Mar 14, 2012 6:41pm GMT

(Reuters) - James Murdoch has written to an influential parliamentary committee, investigating a phone hacking scandal at his company, to apologise and restate his innocence ahead of a potentially damaging report that could determine his future in Britain.

The 39-year-old son of Rupert wrote to the committee to accept responsibility for failing to uncover the criminal behaviour, which has damaged the reputation of the News Corp media empire, British politicians and police.

At stake is his role as chairman of British pay-TV group BSkyB and potentially his future at News Corp, where he had for years been marked out as the heir apparent to his father Rupert as chief executive.

"I did not know about, nor did I try to hide, wrongdoing," he said in the letter published by the committee on Wednesday.

"Whilst I accept my share of responsibility for not uncovering wrongdoing sooner, I did not mislead parliament and the evidence does not support any other conclusion."

Analysts and some shareholders believe Murdoch would struggle to remain at BSkyB if he is singled out for particular criticism as it could impact his ability to negotiate with the government and regulators on behalf of one of Britain's most powerful media firms.

The all-party committee summoned James and his father Rupert to a hearing at the height of the scandal last July, for a three-hour often testy grilling that was watched live by millions on television in both Britain and the United States.

Just four months later, the younger Murdoch had to return to answer further detailed questions over what he knew and when after two former colleagues publicly contradicted his evidence.

News Corp's British newspaper arm News International had long argued that the hacking of voicemails to generate stories was the work of a single rogue reporter and private investigator who had already gone to jail for the crime.

But as more people came forward to accuse the company of hacking their phones, that defence crumbled and attention turned to those at the top of the company and it was asked why they had not pushed further to discover the truth.

"Clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, I acknowledge that wrongdoing should have been uncovered earlier," Murdoch said in his letter.

The parliamentary committee had originally planned to publish its report before Christmas but due to the sensitivity of the material it is having to write the document by committee and is now aiming for the Easter holiday in April.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Georgina Prodhan)

[Douglas Caddy]

Ex-Murdoch scribe claims editor "told me to bribe police"

Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:26am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A former reporter on the News of the World newspaper, the defunct News Corp British paper at the heart of phone-hacking and corruption allegations, said he lost his job as crime correspondent because he refused to bribe police officers.

Jeff Edwards, who worked for the paper from 1981 until 1985, said in a statement to the inquiry into press ethics on Wednesday he had been told by the news editor to offer bribes because he was failing to produce enough stories.

"I explained to him the job was difficult and his response was something to the effect that 'we have plenty of money available, let your contacts in the police know that we will reward them for good information'," Edwards said.

He said he refused to do and a few weeks later, the issue was raised again when the news editor angrily told him he should be paying officers.

Edwards, who went on to be the Daily Mail's crime correspondent for 17 years, said he was upset and that their job was to expose hypocrisy and corruption and "yet here we were with him instructing me to bribe police officers".

"I think this was probably the final nail in my coffin because I remember him becoming angry and saying words to the effect that 'If you will not do my bidding I will find someone who will,'" he said. The following week Edwards said he was replaced as crime correspondent.

London police are currently investigating allegations that journalists made illegal payments to public officials in return for information and have made numerous arrests, including a number of people working for Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper arm News International.

That probe is running alongside the investigation into the illegal hacking of voicemail messages of mobile phones also centered on News International.

Any proven bribery by journalists on Murdoch's papers could lead to U.S. authorities taking action against News Corp under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act resulting in possible fines of millions of dollars and criminal charges against individuals.