Sun editor admission ‘could trigger criminal investigation’
By Hannah Brenton and Ian Dunt
Comments from the former editor of the Sun could trigger a criminal investigation by Scotland Yard, a senior officer has warned.
In a letter to the home affairs committee, Metropolitan police’s assistant commissioner for specialist crime Cressida Dick said Rebekah Brooks’ admission that journalists paid police officers for stories could prompt the investigation.
Ms Brooks, who is now chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, made the comments to MPs when she appeared before a select committee in 2003.
When she was asked to explain her comments earlier this month she wrote back to chair Keith Vaz saying: “If I gave the impression that I had knowledge of any specific cases, I can assure you that this was not my intention.”
Police now plan to “conduct a scoping exercise to establish whether there are now any grounds for beginning a criminal investigation” Ms Dick said.
The development comes as the High Court ruled on how to proceed with the civil cases against News of the World.
Lawyers for the Metropolitan police told the hearing there were at least 91 potential victims.
Twenty-four celebrities are currently suing the newspaper because they believe their phones were hacked into by News of the World journalists.
Mr Justice Vos said he wanted to proceed with four test cases.
He said these test cases could involve actress Sienna Miller, interior designer Kelly Hoppen, sports commentator Andy Gray and sports agent Sky Andrew as their claims were well-advanced and covered a range of issue and levels of damage.
It emerged that Ms Miller has been offered £100,000 to settle her case with News International.
The judge said the main issues in the civil case were whether voicemails had been intercepted, how many times, what was then done with the information and the degree of damage suffered.
“At the bottom of all this is a claim for damages and the most important thing for the claimants is to have a guide as to what damages they may be entitled,” Mr Justice Vos said.
The judge said he expected the civil cases would come to a close by the end of the year – at the latest February 2012 – before the close of the police investigation.
“I am extremely unattracted to the idea of putting back the determination of these civil cases pending criminal proceedings which have not yet even resulted in charges,” he said.
The civil cases have brought new facts to light about the extent of criminality at the tabloid.
Yesterday, a third News of the World journalist, senior reporter James Weatherup, was arrested and then released on bail over allegations of phone-hacking.
Chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former news editor Ian Edmondson were arrested and released on bail last week as the new police investigation picked up steam.
News of the World issued an “unreserved apology” last Friday and is understood to be offering settlements to eight people.
But this offer has not drawn a line under the issue, as some celebrities like actress Sienna Miller are expected to press ahead with legal action
The phone-hacking scandal resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of the paper’s royal editor Clive Goodman and private detective Glenn Mulcaire in 2007.
At the time, News International maintained phone-hacking was the work of a single rogue reporter, but the practice now appears to be far more widespread.
The Met has also come under pressure to explain the failure of the original police investigation to find the evidence of phone-hacking that has emerged in the civil cases.
