Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

Allegations of £30k bribes to coppers in plastic bags...

Channel 4 to broadcast phone hacking whistleblower's last TV interview26/07/2011

Just prior to his recent death, Sean Hoare, a former journalist with the News of the World and a central character in the phone-hacking scandal, was interviewed for a Channel 4 documentary. In Murdoch: The Mogul Who Screwed the News (transmission: 10pm, 27 July on Channel 4) Mr Hoare speaks candidly about his role in the phone hacking scandal and the true extent of the practice at the News of the World, while Brain Paddick reveals details of the extent of police-press relationships, a former NoTW features editor admits to paying the police up to £30,000 for stories, and Murdoch's former butler provides some extraordinary insights into Murdoch's world.


Sean Hoare
When asked by the programme's reporter, Jacques Peretti, about how newspapers secure exclusive interviews with celebrities, Sean Hoare said: Well the process, the process is through maybe phone-hacking or whatever. You can use that as a negotiating tool.... You can say right we've got this, we can cut a deal.... and they know you effectively have got them bang to rights.'

And when asked how commonplace it was: I think people have taken the wrong plot on this, right? This is a regular daily practice. At the end of the day you talk about a produce. It might be a tomato. It might be an apple but you've got to sell it and these people will sell it. You know.'


Brian Paddick
When Ex-Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick was asked about News International's pro-Metropolitan Police coverage of the Jean Charles de Menezes' shooting, he replied: Well, as I say, I think there was a positive relationship between the police and News International.'

Brian became more aware of a climate of paranoia at the Met where senior officers found themselves as tabloid targets. Avoiding potentially embarrassing stories led the police into doing deals with the press.

Brian Paddick: A tabloid newspaper gets hold of some information about a senior police officer. They do not want that story to appear in the media and a deal is done. Either through a PR like Max Clifford or maybe through some other means whereby a better story is offered that will sell more newspapers.


Former NOTW features editor Paul McMullan
Jacques Peretti questions Paul McMullan about payments to police officers and McMullan admits to paying up to £30,000 to the police for information.

Paul McMullan: I mean every week you have to create a feature list for the features in the paper so you would ring all your contacts. So I might ring a couple of policemen every Tuesday morning to see what's going on...'

Jacques: And would money be paid?'

Paul McMullen: Yes, I mean, yeah clearly.'

Jacques: So any money that was paid to police officers for a story would go via someone else so that it couldn't be connected to them?'

Paul McMullen: Er yeah all cash yeah.'

Jacques: And how much money?'

Paul McMullen: Um, the most money I've ever paid for a story in cash was £30,000 quid in two Sainsbury's bags, 15 grand in each.'


Notes:

Murdoch: The Mogul Who Screwed the NewsTransmission: 10pm on 27 July on Channel 4
The incredible story of how Rupert Murdoch used celebrity scandal to bankroll his expanding media empire, before scandal ultimately engulfed the News of the World itself. Jacques Peretti talks to everyone from Hugh Grant to Murdoch insiders to find out how the world of celebrities, cops and politicians first cosied up with, and then turned against, the world's most powerful media mogul.

[Jan Klimkowski]

A political system corrupt to its core:

Osborne met News International chiefs 16 times since election

Chancellor's meetings including five with Rebekah Brooks show full extent of government's links to News International

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 July 2011 17.49 BST

George Osborne met Rebekah Brooks on five occasions in the year following the 2010 general election, according to figures released on Tuesday afternoon, that show how the chancellor cultivated relationships with senior figures at News International.

The chancellor, who expressed regret on Monday for recommending Andy Coulson as the Tories' communications chief, met James Murdoch on four occasions, and Rupert Murdoch twice. In total, he attended 16 meetings at which News International executives were present.

The figures show the full extent of the government's links with News International:

Michael Gove, the former Times journalist who is now education secretary, met Rupert Murdoch six times after the election, more often than any other member of the cabinet. They first met for dinner, along with Brooks, on 19 May last year. Gove and Murdoch had dinner twice in the space of 10 days last month on 16 and 26 June.

Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, met James Murdoch on two occasions in January this year to discuss the News Corp bid to take full control of BSkyB. Hunt was handed control of media takeovers in December after Vince Cable was stripped of his powers in the wake of the disclosure of a recording in which he told undercover journalists that he had "declared war" on Murdoch.

The culture department said Hunt's discussions with Murdoch "set out the process around the proposed BSkyB/News Corp takeover". Hunt has mentioned before that he met Murdoch.

The figures show how Osborne's maintenance of contacts with NI figures, following his appointment as shadow chancellor by Michael Howard in 2005, paid off when the Conservatives came to power as part of the coalition.

Osborne, who became particularly close to James Murdoch because they have children of a similar age, first met him after the election at a meeting also attended by Brooks. Murdoch and Brooks had another joint meeting in April this year. Osborne's other meetings with Brooks and Murdoch were a mixture of social engagements and what are termed as general discussions.

Osborne met Rupert Murdoch in May last year, the first of two meetings during the year. They also met for dinner in New York on 17 December last year, four days before Cable was stripped of his responsibility for media takeovers.

The chancellor's aides said that only 30% of his meetings with media executives were with executives from NI, a similar proportion recorded by Ed Miliband. But the chancellor appears to have kept this figure down by including public meetings, such as the Spectator's Parliamentarian of the Year awards, that were beyond the formal requirements to register private meetings with proprietors and editors.

Gove has used the same tactics to dilute his meetings with NI executives. Government sources said he had gone way beyond the formal requirements by naming working journalists in addition to proprietors and executives.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Rupert Murdoch can carry on reading his Big Tobacco PR scripted lines about humility all he likes.

The truth is clear.

News International has no shame, and no boundaries:

Times accused of deflecting phone-hacking row with 'repugnant' cartoon'

Cynical' cartoon by Peter Brookes showing emaciated African children used 'racist caricatures', say academics in letter

Ben Dowell guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 July 2011 17.27 BST

A group of academics from seven leading UK universities have accused a Times cartoonist of using "racist caricatures" in what they say was a crude and offensive attempt to deflect attention from the phone hacking row.

The group of 21 signatories, including 12 academics from seven universities including Cambridge, Sussex and University College London, claim that the 21 July cartoon by award-winning cartoonist Peter Brookes, which showed three emaciated African children under the heading "I've had a bellyful of phone hacking" was "cynical and repugnant".

Their letter acknowledged that the drawing drew attention to a legitimate concern that the phone-hacking scandal had knocked other stories such as the east Africa famine off the news pages.

But the letter said that Brookes's cartoon was "a blatant piece of propaganda" and showed that the Times's parent company News International was guilty of "selfserving irresponsibility" over its coverage of the phone-hacking scandal.

The letter added: "For one of Murdoch's newspapers to use racist caricatures in an attempt to deflect attention from legitimate public scrutiny of its actions is wholly unacceptable.

"The cartoon is cynical and repugnant, a blatant piece of propaganda that demonstrates precisely the self-serving irresponsibility for which News International is being criticised."

It is understood that the letter was accompanied by a note that acknowledged Brookes's reputation as a cartoonist and said that the signatories would be happy for him to view the letter before publication and to respond to its points publicly. It is understood the Times has so far not responded to this.

[Jan Klimkowski]

I wonder what the concept of B E T R A Y A L means to News International.

Wise man say do not accept gifts from gushing hacks.

News of the World targeted phone of Sarah Payne's mother

Evidence found in private detective's notes believed to relate to phone Rebekah Brooks gave to Sara Payne

Nick Davies and Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 July 2011 19.51 BST

Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000, has been told by Scotland Yard that they have found evidence to suggest she was targeted by the News of the World's investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who specialised in hacking voicemail.

Police had earlier told her correctly that her name was not among those recorded in Mulcaire's notes, but on Tuesday officers from Operation Weeting told her they had found her personal details among the investigator's notes. These had previously been thought to refer to a different target.

Friends of Payne have told the Guardian that she is "absolutely devastated and deeply disappointed" at the disclosure. Her cause had been championed by the News of the World, and in particular by its former editor, Rebekah Brooks. Believing that she had not been a target for hacking, Payne wrote a farewell column for the paper's final edition on 10 July, referring to its staff as "my good and trusted friends".

The evidence that police have found in Mulcaire's notes is believed to relate to a phone given to Payne by Brooks to help her stay in touch with her supporters.

On Thursday night Brooks insisted the phone had not been a personal gift but had been provided to Payne by the News of the World "for the benefit of the campaign for Sarah's law".

In a statement, Brooks said the latest allegations were "abhorrent" and "particularly upsetting" because Sara Payne was a "dear friend".

Responding earlier to news that Payne's details had been found in Mulcaire's notes, one of Payne's close colleagues said: "We are all appalled and disgusted. Sara is in bits about it." It is not known whether any messages for Payne were successfully hacked by Mulcaire.

Coming after the disclosure that the News of the World hacked and deleted the voicemail of the murdered Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler, the news will raise further questions about whether News Corporation is "fit and proper" to own TV licences and its 39% share of BSkyB.

It will also revive speculation about any possible role in phone hacking of Brooks, who was personally very closely involved in covering the aftermath of Sarah Payne's murder and has always denied any knowledge of voicemail interception. On 15 July Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International and was arrested and interviewed by police.

The Labour MP Tom Watson, who has been an outspoken critic of News International, said of the Payne revelation: "This is a new low. The last edition of the News of the World made great play of the paper's relationship with the Payne family. Brooks talked about it at the committee inquiry. Now this. I have nothing but contempt for the people that did this."

Friends of Payne said she had accepted the News of the World as a friend and ally. Journalists from the paper attended the funerals of her mother and father and visited her sick bed after she suffered a severe stroke in December 2009.

In the wake of the Guardian's disclosure on 4 July of the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone, there were rumours that Payne also might have been a victim. Police from Operation Weeting, which has been investigating the News of the World's phone hacking since January, checked the names of Payne and her closest associates against its database of all the information contained in the notebooks, computer records and audio tapes seized from Glenn Mulcaire in August 2006. They found nothing.

The News of the World's sister paper, the Sun, was quick to report on its website, on 8 July, that Payne had been told there was no evidence to support the rumours. The next day the Sun quoted her paying tribute to the News of the World, whose closure had been announced by News International. "It's like a friend died. I'm so shocked," she told them.

In the paper's final edition on Sunday 10 July, Payne registered her own anger at the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone: "We have all seen the news this week and the terrible things that have happened, and I have no wish to sweep it under the carpet. Indeed, there were rumours - which turned out to be untrue - that I and my fellow Phoenix charity chiefs had our phones hacked. But today is a day to reflect, to look back and remember the passing of an old friend, the News of the World."

Since then, detectives from Weeting have searched the Mulcaire database for any reference to mobile phone numbers used by Sara Payne or her closest associates or any other personal details. They are believed to have uncovered notes made by Mulcaire which include some of these details but which had previously been thought to refer to a different target of his hacking. Police have some 11,000 pages of notes which Mulcaire made in the course of intercepting the voicemail of targets chosen by the News of the World.

Friends of Sara Payne said that she had made no decision about whether to sue the paper and that she wanted the police to be able to finish their work before she decided.

Operation Weeting is reviewing all high-profile cases involving the murder, abduction or assault of any child since 2001 in an attempt to find out if any of those involved was the target of phone-hacking.

In her statement, Brooks said: "The idea that anyone on the newspaper knew that Sara or the campaign team were targeted by Mr Mulcaire is unthinkable. The idea of her being targeted is beyond my comprehension.

"It is imperative for Sara and the other victims of crime that these allegations are investigated and those culpable brought to justice."

The revelations came as it was announced that James Murdoch had received a ringing endorsement from directors of satellite group BSkyB.

A lengthy board meeting on Thursday at BSkyB ended with unanimous support for Rupert Murdoch's youngest son to continue as chairman of the group following the collapse of his family firm's bid for the 61% of the satellite business it does not already own.

The Hacked Off campaign, which represents phone-hacking victims and is calling for a full public inquiry into the matter, said the Payne revelations indicated "breathtaking hypocrisy and a complete lack of moral sense" on the part of the News of the World.

The Phoenix Chief Advocates, co-run by Payne, said in a statement: "Whilst it was previously confirmed by Operation Weeting that Sara Payne's name was not on private investigator Glenn Mulcaire's list, it has now been confirmed by Operation Weeting that Sara's details are on his list.

"Sara is absolutely devastated by this news, we're all deeply disappointed and are just working to get her through it.

"Sara will continue to work with the proper authorities regarding this matter."

[Magda Hassan]

Downing Street and News International:

Murdochs were given secret defence briefings

Ministers held meetings with media mogul's people more than 60 times

By Oliver Wright, Whitehall Editor

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

The extraordinary access that Cabinet ministers granted Rupert Murdoch and his children was revealed for the first time yesterday, with more than two dozen private meetings between the family and senior members of the Government in the 15 months since David Cameron entered Downing Street.

In total, Cabinet ministers have had private meetings with Murdoch executives more than 60 times and, if social events such as receptions at party conferences are included, the figure is at least 107.

On two occasions, James Murdoch and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks were given confidential defence briefings on Afghanistan and Britain's strategic defence review by the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox. A further briefing was held with Ms Brooks, Rupert Murdoch and the Sunday Times editor John Witherow.
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The Chancellor, George Osborne, has had 16 separate meetings since May 2010 with News International editors and executives, including two with the Murdochs within just a month of taking office. He also invited Elisabeth Murdoch as a guest to his 40th birthday party last month.

The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, dined with Rupert Murdoch within days of the Government coming to power and, after being given quasi-judicial oversight for the Murdochs' £8bn attempted takeover of BSkyB, had two meetings with James Murdoch in which they discussed the takeover. Mr Hunt said last night that these were legitimate as part of the bid process.

But the minister who sees Rupert Murdoch the most frequently is the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, a former News International employee. Mr Gove has seen the mogul for breakfast, lunch or dinner on six occasions since last May. Overall, Mr Gove has had 12 meetings with Murdoch executives since becoming a minister.

The list, released by government departments yesterday evening, reinforces the impression of an unhealthily close relationship between the top echelons of News International and senior members of the Coalition Cabinet, which first became apparent when Mr Cameron released his list of contacts with news organisations a week ago. He revealed then that he had met News International executives on 26 occasions since entering Downing Street.

Senior executives and editors from News International have held private meetings with Cabinet ministers more than 60 times since last May.

Other newspaper groups and media organisations had significantly fewer meetings. Mr Osborne met with representatives of The Daily Telegraph group on six occasions and The Independent/London Evening Standard twice. Mr Hunt met Telegraph and Independent figures twice each and members of the BBC 11 times.

The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, who was stripped of responsibility for ruling on whether the BSkyB bid should go ahead after boasting in December that he had "declared war on Rupert Murdoch", did not have as much contact as some of his colleagues. Mr Cable met the editor of The Times, James Harding, in December, although it is unclear whether this was before or after he was stripped of his responsibilities for the BSkyB bid.

The Prime Minister's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, held a meeting shortly after the election with No 10's then communications director Andy Coulson, the former head of the Metropolitan Police Sir Paul Stephenson and Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of the News of the World and then an adviser to the Met. Both Mr Coulson and Mr Wallis have since been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and Sir Paul resigned over his handling of the scandal.

Last night a spokesman for Mr Gove insisted that his meetings with the Murdochs were of a personal nature. "Michael worked for the BBC and News International and his wife works for News International now," he said. "He has known Rupert Murdoch for over a decade. He did not discuss the BSkyB deal with the Murdochs and isn't at all embarrassed about his meetings, most of which have been about education, which is his job."

A spokesman for Mr Fox said that the defence briefings given to the Murdochs covered a range of issues and were given because of the "interest in defence matters" shown by News International papers. He did not say who initiated the meetings.

The Chancellor had said he would be happy to talk about the meetings, but the list was released just after interviews he gave on GDP figures so he was not available for comment.

The Conservative Party co-chairman, Sayeeda Warsi, said the release of the information showed that, in contrast to Labour, the Government was being open about its dealings with the Murdochs. "This Government is delivering unprecedented transparency," she said. "Ed Miliband now needs to come clean. Where is his list of Shadow Cabinet media meetings?"

Watson to write book with Independent reporter

Tom Watson, the Labour MP who has done much to uncover the extent of the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World, is to write the "full behind-the-scenes story" with The Independent correspondent Martin Hickman. The publisher Penguin promised yesterday that the book would "describe in previously unpublished detail the nexus between News Corporation, the police and politicians, and will explain how the connections between them were unravelled".

The tenacious MP for West Bromwich East led the questioning of Rupert and James Murdoch and the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks last week when they appeared before the House of Commons select committee for Culture, Media & Sport.

Hickman was named 2009 Journalist of the Year by the Foreign Press Association. Penguin said: "With unique information and access, their book will show what went wrong with some very prominent British institutions and will mark the moment when everything began to change." As yet untitled, it will be published later this year. The book is likely to be one of several documenting a scandal that has gone to the heart of British society.

Ian Burrell
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/pol...26517.html

[Peter Lemkin]

"I think those who own the Country ought to rule it" - John Jay, First Supreme Court Justice of the USA.

[Magda Hassan]

NYT: News Corp Hacked Rival US Company
byThe Anomaly
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PERMALINK 106 COMMENTS


A recent story in the Nixonian News Corporation saga describes how subsidiary News America Marketing broke into the computer system of a rival company:

In the case of News America Marketing, its obscure but profitable in-store and newspaper insert marketing business, the News Corporation has paid out about $655 million to make embarrassing charges of corporate espionage and anticompetitive behavior go away...
In 2009, a federal case in New Jersey brought by a company called Floorgraphics went to trial, accusing News America of, wait for it, hacking its way into Floorgraphics's password protected computer system.

The complaint summed up the ethos of News America nicely, saying it had "illegally accessed plaintiff's computer system and obtained proprietary information" and "disseminated false, misleading and malicious information about the plaintiff."

News Corp was forced to pay the hush money after an ex-employee filed a RICO suit against them:

But now there may be a smoking gun in the form of an ex-employee who is alleging unsavory conduct on the part of his erstwhile employer. Robert Emmel, a former account manager who worked in in-store marketing, was fired late last year; a few months later, after Floorgraphics subpoenaed him as part of its lawsuit, Emmel revealed he had kept a copy of his computer hard drive because, he said in a deposition, he "had some concerns about some of the business practices that News America had engaged in." Just what is on those disks is still unknown, but News America isn't taking any chances: In April the company sued Emmel personally, alleging, among other things, breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets. Emmel countersued under Georgia's RICO statute.
The charges in Emmel's countersuit read like headlines ripped from Murdoch's New York Post. Among them: "the extortionate use of economic fear," "theft and scheme to commit wire fraud," and the allegation that News America broke into Floorgraphics' computer system 11 times during one three-month span.

Emmel also alleges that News America's president, Christopher Mixson, offered him $30,000 in "severance" after Emmel told a colleague he was weighing speaking with the state of Minnesota's attorney general's office, which is a co-plaintiff in one of the lawsuits.

Like Nugan Hand from the "land down under", will Murdoch's empire split asunder?

Updated: This story was covered on The RM Show (h/t zenbassoon)[video]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#43803049[/video]

[Bernice Moore]

http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/07/25/what-ru...ersonally/


What Rupert Murdoch Means For You Personally

[Jan Klimkowski]

The Murdoch empire defence continues to collapse.

Especially since they've had to stop paying legal fees and other, ahem, generous donations, to certain individuals...

Made men you can now hit.

Omerta abandoned.

hutup: :danceing:

Glenn Mulcaire 'acted under instructions' over voicemails

Private investigator denies acting on his own as Sara Payne admits phone hacking link left her 'very distressed and upset'

Lisa O'Carroll and Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 July 2011 21.01 BST

The private investigator at the centre of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal has denied suggestions he acted without orders from the newspaper.

In an attack on News International, Glenn Mulcaire said he was "effectively employed" by the tabloid publisher from 2002 as a private investigator and had not acted "unilaterally" when he intercepted voicemails. "As an employee he acted on the instructions of others," a statement issued by his lawyers said.

His comments came 24 hours after it emerged that Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter, Sarah, was abducted and murdered in 2000, learned Mulcaire may have targeted her phone.

(snip)

Brooks said the allegations about Payne were "abhorrent", and that it was "unthinkable" "anyone on the newspaper knew Sara or the campaign team were targeted by Mulcaire".

The private investigator's statement challenges News International's central defence since Mulcaire and Clive Goodman, the paper's former royal editor, were jailed in 2007 for hacking into Prince William's phone. The company claimed that one "rogue reporter" was responsible.

Mulcaire's statement from his lawyers said: "There were also occasions when he [Mulcaire] understood his instructions were from those who genuinely wished to assist in solving crimes. Any suggestion that he acted in such matters unilaterally is untrue. In the light of the ongoing police investigation, he cannot say any more."

His statement focuses attention back on News International executives, who face another grilling by MPs on the Commons culture select committee.

James Murdoch is likely to be summoned to appear before MPs for a second time after Colin Myler, the NoW's former editor, and Tom Crone, the paper's former head of legal affairs, challenged his evidence to the select committee on 19 July.

Crone and Myler accused Murdoch of being "mistaken" when he told the committee that he had no knowledge of an email that implicated a member of the News of the World staff in Mulcaire's activities.

The pair said they had shown Murdoch the so-called "for Neville" email, which raised the possibility that the paper's former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck knew about phone hacking at the time that the BSkyB chairman approved payments to victims of phone hacking. Murdoch said earlier this month that he did not have a "complete picture" when he approved the payments.

Committee chair John Whittingdale, who said he wanted to hear from the pair and James Murdoch in writing first, is expected to summon them next month. He would also be asking Myler and Crone to exlain why they now think the "for Neville" email is so significant after they played down its significance when they appeared before the committee in July 2009.

"Tom Crone and Colin Myler … told us they had discovered no evidence suggesting that anybody else beyond Clive Goodman had been involved," Whittingdale said. "We are now told, we understand from the statement they issued to the media, that they had drawn James Murdoch's attention to the significance of the 'for Neville' email. It appeared, when they came before us, that they did not regard that it was significant. But clearly they are now suggesting it is."

The committee is also writing to Jon Chapman, a former director of legal affairs at News International, who challenged Rupert Murdoch's claim to the culture committee that he had a copy of a report "for a number of years" which showed evidence of illegality.

Chapman said he was responsible for corporate and legal matters at News International and did not have responsibility for dealing with allegations about phone hacking.

Mulcaire was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to charges of phone interception and is currently appealing against a High Court order that would force him to give more information about hacking to his alleged victims. Glenn Mulcaire had claimed the privilege of self-incrimination but lost a High Court battle against comedian Steve Coogan and football pundit Andy Gray.

There is now a prospect that this appeal against the order arising from this case is abandoned after News International announced it was ceasing to cover Mulcaire's legal fees with "immediate effect".

Mulcaire's solictors wrote to News International earlier this week warning the publisher they were still legally liable to indemnify him against legal costs until the appeal case was resolved.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Scotland Yard has launched a third police operation, ostensibly into computer hacking by the Murdoch empire, but in reality into connections between News International, British intelligence and Special Branch.

From the national security perspective, this had to be an entirely separate investigation because it is born dead.

This police investigation must be a whitewash.

They can't allow the military-multinational-intelligence complex to become visible...

There's much more on the StakeKnife episode elsewhere on DPF.

Scotland Yard to set up new computer hacking task force

Metropolitan Police to take forward Operation Tuleta, which will investigate matters not covered by phone hacking inquiry

David Batty guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 July 2011 23.20 BST

Scotland Yard is to expand its investigations into unlawful newspaper practices by setting up a new task force to examine claims of computer hacking by the News of the World.

The Metropolitan Police said a formal investigation would be launched to take forward Operation Tuleta, which was set up to examine the use of "Trojan" emails that gives a hacker full access to a target computer's contents by infecting it with a virus.

The new team, reporting to Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, will investigate matters not covered by Operation Weeting, the force's phone hacking probe.

A spokeswoman said: "Operation Tuleta is currently considering a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy, received by MPs since January 2011, which fall outside the remit of Operation Weeting, including computer hacking.

"Some aspects of this operation will move forward to a formal investigation. There will be a new team reporting to DAC Sue Akers. The formation of that team is yet to take place."

The announcement came after former army intelligence officer Ian Hurst said the force was formally investigating his claim that his computer was hacked by a private investigator working for the News of the World.

In July 2006 Hurst was sent an email containing a Trojan programme which copied his emails and relayed them back to the hacker. This included messages he had exchanged with at least two agents who informed on the Provisional IRA Freddie Scappaticci, codenamed Stakeknife; and a second informant known as Kevin Fulton. Both men were regarded as high-risk targets for assassination. Hurst was one of the very few people who knew their whereabouts.

Hurst told Channel 4 News: "Police officers working for Operation Tuleta have informed me that they have identified information of evidential value in regards to my family's computer being illegally accessed over a sustained period of 2006.

"The decision by the Metropolitan Police to proceed to a full criminal investigation was conveyed to me this week by Tuleta police officers."