Newspaper accused of paying victims after phone hacking
- 00:01:13
- ITN
Newspaper accused of paying victims after phone hacking
MPs are poised to quiz newspaper chiefs following fresh claims about the use of phone taps. Tory MP John Whittingdale said he would recommend the Commons committee on culture, media and sport committee reopens an inquiry into the issue. He spoke out after The Guardian claimed News Group Newspapers - part of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire which publishes the News of the World - paid out more than £1 million to settle cases that threatened to reveal evidence of journalists hacking into telephones. MPs from all three parties including former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell were among the targets of the alleged phone taps, The Guardian said. It quoted sources saying police officers found evidence of News Group staff using private investigators who had hacked into "thousands" of mobile phones. Mr Whittingdale said: "My view is that this has raised very serious questions about the evidence given to us. "There are a number of questions I would like to put to News International on the basis of what The Guardian has reported. It may well be that we decide we wish to have somebody from News International to appear before us." Mr Prescott said he wanted answers from the police over the claims they knew his phone was tapped by private investigators working for journalists. The Guardian said Andy Coulson, Conservative leader David Cameron's director of communications, was deputy editor and then editor of the News of the World when journalists were using the private investigators. Mr Coulson resigned from the News of the World after royal editor Clive Goodman was jailed for four months in January 2007 for plotting to hack into telephone messages belonging to royal aides. The Guardian said one out-of-court settlement paid by News Group, totalling £700,000 in legal costs and damages, involved legal action brought by Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association. In the Goodman trial, Mr Taylor was revealed as one of the public figures whose phone messages were illegally intercepted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Mr Coulson said: "This story relates to an alleged payment made after I left the News of the World two and half years ago. I have no knowledge whatsoever of any settlement with Gordon Taylor. "The Mulcaire case was investigated thoroughly by the police and by the Press Complaints Commission. I took full responsibility at the time for what happened on my watch but without my knowledge and resigned." Former Cabinet minister Geoff Hoon said: "It is hard to see how in these circumstances Andy Coulson can continue as David Cameron's communications chief while such a cloud hangs over his reputation. David Cameron must make clear what action he intends to take on this matter."
ITN | July 9, 2009
