Met shrugs shoulders over ‘phone hacking’ claims
By Alex Stevenson
There is no evidence which merits further investigation following the Guardian’s phone-tapping claims against the News of the World, the Metropolitan police has said.
Assistant commissioner John Yates told reporters outside New Scotland Yard he had ruled out a new investigation after the original probe into the red-top’s royal reporter, Clive Goodman, who was jailed in January 2007.
The Guardian newspaper had reported earlier today News Group Newspapers’ journalists hired private investigators to hack into over 1,000 mobile phones.
Its claims prompted a media storm as issues of national security, libel and privacy were raised as a result.
Speaking at the G8 summit in Italy, Gordon Brown said: “I think this raises questions that are serious and obviously have to be answered.”
Mr Yates said no further action was needed, however. “No additional evidence has come to light since the investigation concluded,” he said.
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott, among these alleged to have had their privacy infringed, said he would contact the Met.
But Mr Yates said police had not uncovered any evidence suggesting that Mr Prescott’s phone was tapped.
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Journalists gained access to private information ranging from bank statements to itemised phone bills by hacking into text messages, the Guardian had claimed.
While Mr Yates said he “appreciated the concern of those involved”, he said the number of people who had fallen victim to phone-tapping was a “much smaller pool of people”.
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, London mayor Boris Johnson, publicist Max Clifford and model Elle Macpherson were among those the Guardian reported were victims of the illegal surveillance. The list of people affected was exhaustive, taking in individuals from across society,
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Before this afternoon’s statement, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne wrote to Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson calling for an independent inquiry into the allegations of widespread phone tapping by newspapers.
Mr Huhne stressed the Met is in the firing line because it may have neglected its duty either to prosecute the serious offence of tapping and because it failed to alert victims of tapping.
“An independent inquiry by either the Independent Police Complaints Commission or another police force would be more appropriate than a further investigation by the Met,” he said.
“Why did prosecutions not take place? Why were the victims of tapping not informed? These are matters that the Metropolitan police must answer.”
Mr Yates’ claim that police had seen no evidence suggesting further involvement is the Met’s response.
On his blog Mr Prescott, who was one of the individuals allegedly targeted, attacked David Cameron’s decision to make Andy Coulson, deputy editor and then editor of News of the World when the alleged tapping took place, his director of communications.
“This really does call Cameron’s judgement into question in hiring Coulson,” he said.
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“[Damian] McBride rightly got the sack after those childish emails. In fact, Cameron claimed the incident showed there needed to be a ‘change of culture’ in Downing Street.
“But the systematic illegal hacking of up to 3,000 people is in a different league all together. Allowing the man who allowed that to happen into No 10 would be deplorable.”
Mr Coulson has denied any involvement in the practices alleged by the Guardian. Mr Cameron has made clear he has his support, saying his job was “safe”.
Speaking outside his house, the Tory leader said he knew about Mr Coulson’s resignation from the News of the World when he hired him.
“I believe in giving people a second chance. as the director of communications he does an excellent job for the Conservative party and behaves properly and in an upright way in everything that he does,” he said.
Mr Coulson is understood to have continued with “business as usual” today, a Tory insider said.
The Guardian reported that the News of the World’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, paid over £1 million in a series of out-of-court settlements to victims of the bugging.
One of the conditions of the settlement was that details of the illegal activities would remain secret, it was claimed. The newspaper reported that Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, received £700,000 in compensation.
In January 2007 News of the World journalist Clive Goodman was jailed for hacking into the mobile phones of three royal staff.
The chairman of the Commons’ culture, media and sport committee, John Whittingdale, plans to re-open his inquiry into the circumstances surrounding that case.
Gordon Brown, in Italy for the G8, is aware of the story but is concentrating on the summit, No 10 said.
“We have a system that on the one hand ensure we have a free press, and that’s a fundamental part of our democracy, but the media must at all times abide by the law,” the prime minister’s spokesman said earlier today.
