Phone hacking was ‘shameful’ – NI lawyer
Phone hacking by the News of the World was “wrong, shameful and should never have happened,” News International’s lawyer tells the Leveson inquiry.
Rhodri Davies QC apologised for the hacking scandal and said it was possible the illegal interception of voicemails continued even after one of the paper’s reporters was jailed.
He also accepted that hacking was not carried out by one “rogue reporter” and that the issue was not properly investigated until police launched a new inquiry in January.
But the inquiry, ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron, was told that News International questioned claims that as many as 28 former News of the World journalists commissioned private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to intercept voicemail messages.
Dowlers first witnesses
The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked by the now-defunct newspaper after she vanished in 2002, will be the first witnesses to give evidence to the inquiry next week.
A total of 21 people who have complained about press intrusion, including actor Hugh Grant, the parents of missing Madeleine McCann and former Formula 1 boss Max Mosley, are also expected to appear.
‘Lessons learned’
Mr Davies told the inquiry that “lessons were learned” when News of the World royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed in 2007 for hacking royal aides’ phones. But he admitted: “I am not going to give any guarantees that there was no phone hacking by or for the News of the World after 2007.”
Police believe that illegal voicemail interception at News International had begun by 2002 and continued until at least 2009, the inquiry has heard. Mr Mulcaire’s notebooks suggest that at least 27 of the publisher’s employees, apart from Mr Goodman, commissioned him to hack phones.
What we understand is that it certainly does not add up to 27. Rhodri Davies QC
Mr Davies said News International had never seen the full set of 11,000 pages of Mr Mulcaire’s notes, but accepted they included the names of Mr Goodman and four other News of the World journalists.
He added: “We also know that the police believe there are a number of others which can be correlated to News of the World journalists. We do not know the names and we are not in a position to assess that one way or another. Nor do we know how many, but what we understand is that it certainly does not add up to 27.”
Mr Cameron set up the Leveson inquiry in July after it was revealed that the News of the World hacked 13-year-old Milly’s phone.
The first part, which formally began on Monday, is looking at the culture, practices and ethics of the press. The second part, examining the extent of unlawful activities by journalists, will not begin until detectives have completed their work and any prosecutions have concluded.
