Phone hacking scandal deepens

[David Guyatt]

Fancy that.

Missing: 3 million News International emails

All emails covering her period as editor removed after Rebekah Brooks changed company's email deletion policy in 2010

• Caroline Davies
  
• The Guardian, Thursday 6 November 2014 20.09 GMT
  

Rebekah Brooks ordered a change in email deletion policy at News International in June 2010, the jury heard. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

Three million emails at News International are missing after Rebekah Brooks changed the company's email deletion policy, a jury heard.
Brooks ordered the change in June 2010, which resulted in a large quantity of emails being deleted, including those "covering her entire period as editor of the Sun", Kingston crown court was told.
The issue of missing emails emerged as the prosecution completed its case in the trial of six Sun and former Sun journalists accused of making corrupt payments to public officials. All six deny the charges.
Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting, read out details of the email deletion as an "agreed fact" between parties at the trial. He told the jury it had resulted in a significant loss of emails. "Three million are missing," he said. Some had been recovered from backups made by independent contractors "including evidence in this trial".
Earlier, the jury was told that one journalist had used the phrase "senior police source" to dress up stories and aggrandise himself in the eyes of his bosses and readers. Jamie Pyatt, 51, told police he had never paid police officers and that the phrase "senior police source" was just a euphemism.
In a police interview made under caution and read to the court, Pyatt, the Sun's Thames Valley reporter for 25 years, told officers: "Everybody uses it to make it look like they have got somebody on the inside track.
"We are trying to make ourselves look as if we are so inside the story so the reader thinks, Oh he's done well'. The phrase was to dress it up', to make [the story] look a lot stronger than what you have got."
Asked by police to describe the term "police contact", Pyatt said it was a "very, very wide" term, and could apply to the girlfriend or wife of a police officer. It was a "catch-all phrase" used for "bigging yourself up a little bit" and also helped to "get your expenses through", he said.
On paying cash to tipsters, he told police: "It's cash payments. That's the reason why they call us." He didn't need to know the recipient's full details, he told officers. Over 25 years at the Sun, he was respected, worked his Thames Valley patch well, and there wasn't a barman or barmaid in Windsor who did not know him.
People rang the news desk offering stories, the news desk agreed a fee if it checked out, and his job was to pursue the lead and then, if it made the paper, to pay them what they had been promised, he said. The Sun did not pay for everything, only exclusives. "If it is just people talking, no. We don't wander round with a sackful of cash like Father Christmas."
Pyatt told officers that after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the paper had devoted 11 pages to the story every day for a month. "It saved us a fortune because we didn't have to pay for stories."
Strict new guidelines on payments introduced at the Sun had made it "a lot harder to get stories", he said in the interview.
In a later interview, he read from a prepared statement which said: "All payments to sources were required to be sanctioned by my superiors and ultimately signed off at management or editorial level."
He told officers he felt a little bit disappointed, and let down" by the News International investigation that led to his arrest. "At the end of the day, I just do as I'm told," he told them. He said of Sun staff: "We feel we are being investigated and we have not done anything wrong."
Pyatt; Chris Pharo, 45, the Sun's head of news; Ben O'Driscoll, 38, former deputy news editor; Graham Dudman, 51, managing editor; John Edwards, 50, picture editor; and John Troup, 49, reporter, all deny conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. The trial continues.

[Magda Hassan]

Fancy that.

Missing: 3 million News International emails

All emails covering her period as editor removed after Rebekah Brooks changed company's email deletion policy in 2010

Well, I never!

However, the internet never forgets. If they were sent, and they were or they wouldn't exist, they are out there some where.

[Martin White]

Hacking was known about by 2006. This appears to be clear destruction of evidence.

[David Guyatt]

Absolutely. Take no chances, pay no price. I actually wonder if she was directed to do this by Rupe or one of his security men? Just speculation on my part, but it would right up the dirty digger's street to think of this...

[Martin White]

On the face of it, the original acquittal was dodgy. If she doesn't get retried after this, then justice in the UK has been officially bought.

[Michael Barwell]

A group of six journalists are taking legal action against London's Metropolitan Police and the Home Office after it was revealed that they had been been under government surveillance for years and had even been listed as 'domestic extremists'.

Surveillance records, obtained via public records request, detailed the extent to which they police had been spying reams of documents, including family members' medical history, that led one of the claimants to compare the Met Police to "the Stasi".
They were all targets of the Yard's National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit (NDEDIU).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cri...74795.html

[David Guyatt]

Lies, lies and damned lies

Hacking by Mirror worse than at Murdoch papers'



As many as 41 journalists could have accessed private voicemails

JAMES CUSICK

POLITICAL EDITOR

Thursday 22 January 2015

The scale of phone hacking inside Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) may have been larger than at rival tabloids owned by Rupert Murdoch, according to details given at a High Court hearing.

As many as 41 journalists working across the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People newspapers are now alleged to have used internal office lines to make calls to mobile phones and illegally access private voicemails, a court heard. Fresh details of the "widespread and habitual" nature of voicemail hacking at Mirror Group emerged at a legal hearing yesterday, four weeks ahead of the first scheduled civil law hacking trial against MGN.
Although the imminent civil trial will focus on eight representative" claims, a further group of six "managed" claimants have been identified. Several hundred further claimants are known to be awaiting the level of compensation and the scale of hacking inside MGN which the trial will evaluate.
With Mirror Group continuing to settle outstanding claims as the trial date approaches with average damages worth £50,000 plus the same sum again paid out in legal costs the publicly quoted newspaper group is looking at a potential bill running to tens of millions of pounds.

The voicemail hacking which MGN now accepts took place across its three main national titles includes the years 2001 to 2008 and may have continued up to 2011. This covers the period when one of its most high-profile editors, Piers Morgan, was at the helm of the Daily Mirror.
The upcoming civil trial which includes the cases of the BBC creative executive Alan Yentob, the Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati, and actress Sadie Frost also holds the potential to damage the reputation of MGN itself.
Barrister David Sherborne, acting for the claimants, told the court that earlier public statements relating to phone hacking made by senior Trinity Mirror individuals were "knowingly false".
Last September MGN dramatically changed its serial denials on hacking when it announced that its journalists had been engaged in the illegal activity and that it would be paying compensation to four individuals. The company subsequently announced that it had set aside up to £9m to settle claims and pay legal costs.
Documents provided to the Metropolitan Police at the end of last year by Trinity Mirror's legal representatives were subsequently ordered to be disclosed to the claimants by the judge, Mr Justice Mann.
The upcoming civil trial, which includes the cases of the BBC creative executive Alan Yentob, could be potentially damaging for MGN (David Sandison)
The documents are alleged to show that the Trinity Mirror board knew more about the extent of unlawful activity inside their titles at a stage when the company was still refusing to admit liability.
At the pre-trial review in the High Court's Rolls Building, settlements with 10 celebrity claimants were announced. MGN's counsel, Matthew Nicklin, offered a "sincere apology" for the "damage and distress caused". He said there had been no "legitimate justification" for the use of hacking and blagging to obtain personal information, or for the publication of related articles which followed. He added that such methods "should never have been employed".
Mr Nicklin said "substantial sums" in damages, plus reasonable costs, had been paid to the 10 claimants. Although no figures were revealed to the court, it is understood that initial offers averaging £50,000 were refused and that MGN then more than doubled their initial offers to settle.
"They have all expressed their feelings of distress and anger that their private information has been treated in this way and their privacy has been so grossly violated by these newspapers solely for profit," Mr Sherborne said.
The settlements announced yesterday included the Dr Who actor Christopher Eccleston, the former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, the one-time nanny of David and Victoria Beckham, Abbie Gibson, and the BBC EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace. They also included actor Shane Richie's wife Christie Roche and agent Phil Dale, plus the singer and TV personality Peter Andre, TV presenter Cilla Black and her son and manager, Robert Willis.
The claim by actor and singer Darren Day was also settled. Mr Day is understood to have accepted £85,000 plus costs. MGN accepted that eight articles which were a product of phone hacking were published by all three of the company's titles between 2000 and 2006.
The claimants at February's trial, the court heard, will include evidence related to call data obtained from MGN's records and information connected to 108 published articles that appeared across the Mirror and MGN's two Sunday titles. Mr Sherborne said the objective was to show the "scale of activity [illegal] that was taking place". He also told the court that more than £2m had been spent by MGN over the period covered by the specific articles on private investigators.
Darren Day is understood to have accepted £85,000 plus costs (Getty Images)
Although the work of the investigators included physical surveillance, Mr Sherborne also said they [the private investigators] were hired to obtain details that would assist accessing voicemails.
Describing the focus of journalists at the three MGN titles on Mr Yentob, Mr Sherborne said that although no articles had ever been published about him, there had been over 300 calls made from inside MGN which had accessed the BBC executive's voicemail.
"His [Mr Yentob's] phone was accessed several times a day for five months by different journalists," said Mr Sherborne. He added that articles so far identified as being connected to phone hacking could be "just the tip of the iceberg" of the activity inside the MGN papers.
[B]Changing story: How the claims were previously denied[/B]

October 2011 at Leveson Inquiry
"I am not aware of any deliberate transgression of the criminal law at the Daily Mirror' during my time as editor". Richard Wallace, former Daily Mirror' editor
"The editors all confirmed that Trinity Mirror could say that our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC". Paul Vickers, former Trinity Mirror legal director
"Trinity Mirror's system of corporate governance means that we work with the law and the code, which I believe we do". Tina Weaver, former Sunday People' editor
"To the best of my knowledge, the law and the Code are adhered to in practice". Lloyd Embley, editor-in-chief Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN)
July 2011
"I've never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, or published any story based on the hacking of a phone". Piers Morgan, former Daily Mirror' editor, to Reuters
October 2012
"As we previously stated, all our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC code of conduct". Trinity Mirror to the London Stock Exchange
"I am deeply concerned over the absence of evidence and how four unsubstantiated claims can attract publicity of such magnitude". Simon Fox, chief executive of Trinity Mirror from 2012 on new hacking allegations against MGN
May 2013
"We will not accept wrongdoing inside our business and take these allegations [of hacking] seriously." MGN spokesman
November 2013
"We continue to contest these four claims vigorously". Trinity Mirror statement after losing bid to having new hacking claims dismissed.
October 2014
"To this day not a single journalist who worked for me has been arrested or charged in connection with any offence at the Daily Mirror."
Piers Morgan

[David Guyatt]

I note that no comment was offered regarding the weight of evidence collected, merely that prosecution had been declined. It has that certain whiff to it that is common with a political fix.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp will not face phone hacking charges in US

US Justice Department decides against prosecuting over allegations of phone hacking and bribing British police

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The Justice Department has decided not to bring charges against Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Photo: Getty Images






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By Raf Sanchez, Washington

10:42PM GMT 02 Feb 2015
Follow


Rupert Murdoch's media empire will not face prosecutions in America over allegations of phone hacking or bribing British police.

The US Justice Department had spent several years looking into allegations that reporters at the News of the World had violated American law but investigators have now decided not to bring prosecutions.

News Corp and 21st Century Fox, Mr Murdoch's American media companies, said in a statement on Monday that the Justice Department would not bring charges against them.

"21st Century Fox and News Corp have been notified by the United States Department of Justice that it has completed its investigation of voicemail interception and payments to public officials in London, and is declining to prosecute either company.

"We are grateful that this matter has been concluded and acknowledge the fairness and professionalism of the Department of Justice throughout this investigation," the companies said.

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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US investigators looked into allegations that Mr Murdoch's tabloid journalists tried to hack the phones of 9/11 victims as well as celebrities like Jude Law, who claimed his phone was hacked while he was in New York.
They also looked into the issue of whether the alleged bribing of British police officers may have violated American laws which bar US companies from engaging in corrupt practices overseas.
The News of the World and Mr Murdoch's other British newspapers, are under the umbrella of News Corp, which is based in the US and therefore subject to American law.

[Michael Barwell]

The first report I heard about this, was that they'd been doing the same things in the US as in UK.

[David Guyatt]

The click, click, click of very dirty and dishonest high heels on Rupe's stone floors of Shityful, a Dublin based news rights holder for News Corp.

Whoever could be surprised if the dirty digger bought/bludgeoned his way out of trouble and preserved the interests of his lurv child? Or is my cynicism showing?

Rebekah Brooks: Former Sun and News of the World editor reportedly poised for News Corp return as Storyful boss



There has been widespread speculation about Ms Brooks' future since her acquittal in the phone-hacking trial last summer

ANDREW BUNCOMBE

NEW YORK

Monday 02 March 2015

Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of the now-defunct tabloidNews of the World and the Sun and a much trusted lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch, may be poised to return to the News Corp fold eight months after she was cleared in the phone-hacking trial.

Reports said that Ms Brooks is all set to make her comeback by running News Corp's social media news agency Storyful. TheFinancial Times said Ms Brooks will initially be based in the UK and spend time at Storyful's Dublin headquarters, though it is said she has also rented a flat in New York.
News Corp acquired Storyful last year for $25m. Founded in 2008 by Mark Little, the firm verifies and manages the rights holders of news and videos on social media platforms such as Twitter. It does so in real time.
Ms Brooks, 46, was acquitted last June by a London court of being part of an illegal conspiracy at the News of the Worldtabloid to hack into phones and make illegal payments to police and public officials. There has been much speculation about the future of the former chief executive of News Corp's UK subsidiary since she was found not guilty.
Andy Coulson, another former News of the World editor who went on to run communications for David Cameron, was found guilty and served five months in prison of an 18 month term.
Mr Murdoch and Ms Brooks have been close for many years. In the summer of 2011 as Mr Murdoch flew to London to personally oversee the company's response to the hacking allegations, he was filmed with a protective arm around her as they left his home.
News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch exited his London home on Sunday with his arm around embattled newspaper chief Rebekah Brooks, and told reporters that he was concerned about her.
Asked what his priority was, Mr Murdoch gestured at Ms Brooks and said: "This one."