UPDATED@ Alastair Morgan to @RupertMurdoch “You are in a unique position to help us finally lay Daniel to rest.”

With considerable speed and grace, on Monday 16 March, Rupert Murdoch replied to Alastair’s letter, promising to co-operate with the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel inquiry, and explaining how News Corp’s Management and Standards Committee have already complied with requests from the police and the IPCC.

Questions about the role of News of the World and surveillance of chief investigating officer and his family were part of James Murdoch’s formal written submission to the Leveson Inquiry

My original blog on the letter is below. 

Beyond Contempt Reprint: with new Martin Rowson Cover

 

Some news from my Publisher, Martin Hickman at Canbury Press; Peter’s book. We did it!.

Some splendid news about Peter Jukes‘ gripping account of the phone hacking trial: we’ve taken delivery of a reprint.

When we published Beyond Contempt in the autumn, it was frankly a little risky – legally and commercially. Thankfully, hundreds of you who followed Peter’s tweets responded positively. Waterstones has been great too.

So, what’s new in the new edition? Well, we’ve torn through the book and had the text professionally typeset, redesigned the pages, and hunted down a few more typos and blitherings.

A little mischievously, we’ve also commissioned an illustration by Martin Rowson of Rebekah Brooks as Justice. It’s on the cover (right).

Get you copy from www.hackingtrial.com

Charlie Brooks and Kuttner’s Costs Application Rejected in HackingTrial

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While News UK withdrew, at the last minute, their £10-20 million application for costs for Brooks and other corporately defended clients, the claim by Charlie Brooks and Stuart for their private expenses has also been rejected my Mr Justice Saunders today: his full decision is below. Charlie had claimed half a million for his defence, while Stuart Kuttner £130,000  for his individual costs.

Meanwhile, Private Eye has added more detail to the reason News UK withdrew it’s cost application ten days ago,

 

BREAKING: No Further Action against News International Lawyer Tom Crone: NOTW desk editor Edmondson pleads guilty to hacking –

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As reported earlier, Ian Edmondson pleaded guilty to phone hacking in the Old Bailey today, completing the main phase of police operation Weeting with seven convictions for the nine charged with conspiracy to phone hack since 2011. As well as private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, two reporters, four desk editor and the editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson, have now been convicted. Rebekah Brooks and former managing editor Stuart Kuttner were acquitted. (The prosecution sentencing note is attached here as a pdf)

The Hacking Trial Costs Issue – News UK withdraw their claim for millions: Saunders’ Memo

Back in June, when Rebekah Brooks, Stuart Kuttner, Cheryl Carter and Mark Hanna were all acquitted at the phone hacking trial, their barristers made it clear they would be applying (as is their right) for a refund of their court costs. Already, at this point, it was clear that News UK would have to be party to these hearings on costs, since they had indemnified all the cleared defendants bar Charlie Brooks. The initial quantum for that claim was reported to be £25 million in legal costs. This was reduced two weeks ago to £7 million by the Crown Prosecution Service on the basis of equivalent legal aid, rather than private, legal costings. 

More News of the World background: Miskiw, Mahmood and the MET

Another piece on News of the World -cross posted from Bellingcat and introduced by Eliot Higgins

Over the past two years my “regular contributor” has written on all things Leveson, phone hacking, and police corruption, with much of their work gathered on the Brown Moses Blog – Hackgate Files.  Now they’ve come to Bellingcat to continue their work, beginning with a look at Mazher Mahmood (aka the Fake Sheikh) and the Metropolitan Police.

Miskiw, Mahmood and the MET

In January 2004, a journalist from the News of the World (NOTW) was interviewed by MET police on suspected criminality resulting from Operation Motorman. It was GREG MISKIW.

Yet just a few weeks later, MET police were enthusiastically commiting to a £1million+ collaboration with the NOTW on a newspaper ‘sting’. This time the journalist was MISKIW’S investigations desk close colleague – MAZHER MAHMOOD.

Fake Sheikh, Beckhams, Red Mercury – Why did Scotland Yard Fail to Investigate Phone Hacking

A new piece on Mazher Mahmood and the News of the World by an occasional contributor, Joe Public

“Our man Maz collars crook Number 105,” NOTW headline cited of all the number of investigations that led to conviction.

— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) February 20, 2014

In the aftermath of the phone hacking trial, the Guardian’s Nick Davies, who played a pivotal in exposing the News of the World scandal, still had unanswered questions. This time, not for News UK (formerly News International), but the Metropolitan Police who having sat on the evidence in 2006 and refused to reopen it in 2009 finally managed do their job in 2011. Davies reported:

“Lord Justice Leveson concluded that the Caryatid team had made mistakes in handling victims of the hacking and had failed to follow leads to other perpetrators but had acted in good faith, primarily because officers had to deal with far more serious crime involving terrorist plots to commit mass murder. That conclusion is clearly well-founded. Specifically, there is no evidence that any Caryatid officer showed any fear or favour towards News International.”

He went on “however, the objective fact is that Scotland Yard’s conduct enabled News International’s coverup to succeed. Here, there are two key questions. Why was the hacking inquiry not passed to another squad to be completed? And was that decision in any way influenced by a desire to placate Murdoch’s company?”

Those Rogue Reporter Emails

As Andy Coulson goes into another week of cross examination, I’m posting here some more the emails which have been cited again and again since the opening of the hacking trial. These are mainly courtesy of the BBC and Robin Brant.

Some of these emails were downloaded by Clive Goodman himself after his arrest on the 8th of August 2006. Others come the Harbottle and Lewis search of the following year, during Goodman’s employment claim against NI for unfair dismissal. The remainder are from police searches of the remaining NI email database

Mulcaire Sanctioned by Spooks: ‘Malign Influence’ of NI Lawyer on Goodman’s Legal Team

L/R: Clive Goodman, David Spens QC, Andy Coulson (image from Daily Mail

As Claire Pollard, who usually storifies my tweets, is away for a couple of days, I am reproducing, with kind permission of Rosie Robertson, today’s entry in her excellent Press Reform blog. I don’t think the evidence today from former NOTW Royal Correspondent Clive Goodman needs much comment

Brooks’ Coulson email exchange on Goodman Mulcaire guilty pleas: “It is all going so well”

The CPS have released copies of the email exchange between Rebekah Brooks (Wade as she was then) and Andy Coulson on the day the guilty pleas by NOTW Royal Reporter, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, were first entered in the original phone hacking trial in 2006.