7 Suppressed Investigations into News of the World in 7 Years – why Leveson II is Needed

English: London (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Joe Public at Bellingcat has some startling new revelations about the long term connections between high profile employees of News International and suspects in the murder of Daniel Morgan in the private detective company Southern Investigations. These connections were reported to the Metropolitan Police 15 years ago. As Joe says:

“The Yard’s 1999/2000 Operation Two Bridges had surveillance on Mahmood in The Victory pub, in Thornton Heath, south London by CIB3 officers (also known as the Ghost Squad), who were working from London’s Belgravia police station. An intelligence report dated 26th September 1999 damningly states:

“While in the company of Rees, ‘Maz’ was with a plain clothes officer aged about 45 – officer was selling a story to Maz about inter-race marriage and the payment in dowry in the form of livestock”

 

How involved was Murdoch in News of the World stories? Some evidence from Piers Morgan

#450616087 / gettyimages.com

There’s some contradictory evidence from the Leveson Inquiry and the Phone Hacking trial about just how much Rupert Murdoch was interested in his best selling Sunday Tabloid. Before Lord Justice Leveson in 2012,  the chair of News Corp said the Sun was his major UK interest and he rarely concerned himself with NOTW, but earlier this year both Brooks and Coulson at the phone hacking trial gave evidence of weekly calls from Murdoch, throughout their editorships.

This snippet, from Piers Morgan‘s autobiography, shows that – at least on one occasion – Murdoch knew more than his editors. Concerned about a Princess Diana ‘phone pest’ story (allegedly sourced illegally through a police file) the then editor is reassured first by his news editor, Alex Marunchak, and then by Murdoch himself, that the story would stand up.

UPDATED: Hacking Trial 2: Wallis Responds to charges: “needlessly vindictive… the ire has been turned on me”

Neil Wallis has just responded to these new charges:

Neil Wallis (Photo credit: jon_cronshaw)

 I’m devastated that more than 3 years after my initial arrest, this swingeing indiscriminate charge had been brought against me. My family and  I have already paid a huge price for the police’s very public attention. Perhaps it is inevitable that after being such an outspoken critic of the collateral damage and pain caused by this needlessly vindictive and enormously costly investigation, the ire  has been turned on me for something that occurred at NI of which I knew nothing and which I have always said was wrong Regrettably, legal reporting restrictions prevent me commenting further on this sad day.

Eariler from  from the CPS

On December 2013, the Metropolitan Police Service submitted evidence for charging advice to the CPS in relation to Operation Pinetree, an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to hack phone messages by journalists at the News of the World. Additional evidence in the case was provided in June 2014. The file asked for charging advice on eight suspects; all were formerly employed at the News of the World. On 16 July 2014, the CPS announced that six of those individuals would face no further action whilst the evidence in relation to two further suspects remained under review. That review has now concluded.

Transcript of Voicemail Message left on Prince Harry’s Phone

This is a transcript of a voicemail, recovered in 2006 from Clive Goodman‘s premises, allegedly left by Prince William on Prince Harry‘s phone. It is the first proof that senior members of the Royal Family were hacked by Glenn Mulcaire, rather than just their aides as admitted in 2006. The reason this has been shown to a jury is, from the prosecution’s case, to prove that NOTW sourced stories from phone hacking, and this information was shared between other defendants. All of the defendants deny all the charges and the trial continues

Hundreds of hacking calls made from ‘private wire’ inside NI HQ, jury told | Hacked Off

Hundreds of hacking calls were made from a “private wire” inside News International’s headquarters, the Old Bailey heard today.

Among those whose voicemails were accessed from the “generic” phone link at Wapping in east London were Katie Price, Tessa Jowell, celebrity PR advisor Alan Edwards and three Mail on Sunday journalists – Sebastian Hamilton, Dennis Rice and Laura Collins, the hacking trial was told.

Princes William and Harry’s private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, alone was called 416 times during a nine-month period, the court heard.